[ale] Way OT - the death of Twinkies

[Jim Kinney]

On 11/20/2012 11:24 AM, Scott Plante wrote:
> I found that very surprising, so I did a bit of googling. I think that 
> must have been meant as a bit of hyperbole. They were asked to take an 
> 8% cut, of which they'd get 4% back next year, and to start paying 17% 
> of their healthcare instead of their current 0%. Here are a few more 
> surprising facts I came across:
>
> --Hostess paid out almost $100 million in health benefits for retirees 
> last year, but over half of it covered workers who never had worked at 
> Hostess.  The Teamsters' onerous and antiquated "multi-employer 
> pension plan" foists the pension obligations of a bankrupt company on 
> to the balance sheets of surviving rivals---ensuring a steady death 
> spiral in any declining industry. A similar "MEPP" almost killed YRC, 
> one of the largest trucking companies.

Sounds onerous until it's realized that there are contractual 
obligations for pensions and benefits to employees and retirees. Most 
companies signed those and are now trying to get out of them as they 
spent the last 30 years underfunding the plans to prop up profit margins 
on paper. Once retired, pensioners no longer have a say in things. As 
the union contracted to provide the funds with corp funding, it's the 
usual insurance game of make whose left pay the bill. If enough payers 
leave, the ponzie-scheme collapses. Another "infinite growth" financial 
plan.
>
> --Union rules forced Hostess to run separate truck fleets for 
> delivering bread vs. sweets. A sweets driver, serving a 7-11 store, 
> was forbidden from restocking shelves with breads already delivered 
> and waiting in the back---he had to call for a bread driver to swing 
> by and handle.

That's pretty bone-headed. Maybe the sweets guys were immune to the 
smell of cinnamon but allergic to gluten :-)
>
> --The union restrictions on the 5,500 distribution routes at Hostess 
> made it unprofitable to serve tiny outlets, yet Hostess was barred 
> from using smaller, sleeker---and non-union---distributors.

That's common practice to carve up a region to protect self-interests. 
It happens in sales and marketing as well (very non-unionized) and is a 
double-edged sword. Non-union distribution is like outsourcing IT jobs 
to low wage countries. Once it starts, the end point is no one makes a 
decent living in the starting point area. Until problems come up, 
rebuilding the trust and relationships that fosters the tremendous 
growth between 1955 and 1971 or so of unions and corps is a moot point. 
Cheapest labor means a fatter bottom line as long as someone is buying 
the products. Thus we have to "export" goods to grow because the 
disposable income here is declining.
>
> --Workers were asked to take an 8% pay cut and pay 17% of their 
> health-care costs instead of zero. Welcome to the club, guys.  For 
> this, they would have received 25% ownership of Hostess plus $100 
> million of Hostess debt to be paid back to the unions.

25% of Hostess is what, $11.42? I really haven't followed the details of 
the twinkie makers long death march. I do know that a deep fried twinkie 
covered in powder sugar and chocolate sprinkles was declared AMAZING by 
my son and a friend. I fried it but didn't try it :-)
>
> From: http://goo.gl/BR9uX
>
> Apparently, the best you can do with unemployment is 46.9% of your 
> pay, and it goes as low as 20.6%.
> http://goo.gl/WA5T6

Unemployment funding is no incentive to not work. It sucks. Given the 
typical household budget breakdowns, it will only cover roof and maybe 
partial food. Health insurance goes away as does car insurance, 
internet, and any ability to pay any other bills including water, power, 
and gas. Any consumer credit bills go unpaid which in turn ruins the 
credit rating thus potentially damaging the ability to regain full 
employment and continue paying all bills as per usual.
>
> By the way, the judge has ordered them back into mediation 
> today. Perhaps they'll stay open yet.

There's some blurb of a private corp doing a buy out as well.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From: *"Jim Kinney" <jim.kinney at gmail.com>
> *To: *"Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts" <ale at ale.org>
> *Sent: *Saturday, November 17, 2012 9:27:43 AM
> *Subject: *Re: [ale] Way OT - the death of Twinkies
>
> Ouch! To make more on unemployment than at the new pay rate. OUCH! No 
> wonder they walked out.
>
>
> On Nov 17, 2012 9:21 AM, "Lightner, Jeff" <JLightner at water.com 
> <mailto:JLightner at water.com>> wrote:
>
>     My first thought on hearing about this the other day was of the
>     movie Zombieland in which Woody Harrelson's character's main
>     driving force is the search for the "last twinkies".   A funny bit
>     was when his traveling companion blasts through a door with a
>     shotgun only to find the only box of twinkies on the other side of
>     it blasted as well.  :-)
>
>     Twinkies won't go away - in the company's statement they made the
>     comment that the brands would likely be sold.
>
>     Interestingly their main union had actually signed a contract and
>     it was a lesser union that went on strike.   A co-worker of mine
>     said that he had heard or read that other union did it because
>     they decided they'd make more money on unemployment than with the
>     new contract with all the concessions it had.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo


-- 
James P. Kinney III

Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog.
- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain

http://electjimkinney.org
http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/attachments/20121120/8d7c1a35/attachment.html>