[ale] Way OT - the death of Twinkies

[arxaaron]

Sorry, can't let this typically ignorant of the facts, (R)==RAPIST,  
self suicidal,
  "blame the workers",  teabagger terrorist propaganda go unchallenged.

The failures behind the bankruptcy of the Hostess corporation are at
least equally the fault of corporapist executive incompetence,  
exploitation,
and gluttonous greed as they are of the unions trying to maintain living
wages and equitable working conditions for the people who were actually
making and delivering the products:

"BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to
file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then CEO of Hostess was  
awarded
a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at
least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay  
raises.
One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000
and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256."

<http://gawker.com/5961444/dont-worry-hostess-top-executives-still-got-richer-as-company-collapsed 
 >

Until our economic structures are shifted to a democratic, bottom up
paradigm where our models of corporation and business are employee
owned and controlled, then we (and the dying planet) are all doomed
to suffer the continued and guaranteed failure of the grossly  
inefficient
and even more grossly inequitable adversarial structures of industrial
capitalism.

Truly tragic that most human beings are so deluded and entrapped by
hysterical and pervasive corporapist propaganda that they are unable
to realize that fact.

in peace
aaron




On 2012/11/20, at 11:24 , 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.
>
> --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.
>
> --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.
>
> --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.
>
> 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
>
> By the way, the judge has ordered them back into mediation today.  
> Perhaps they'll stay open yet.
>
> 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> 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