Twinkies bakers say they’d rather lose jobs than take pay cuts
Workers had a laundry list of frustrations, from rising healthcare costs to decreased wages and delayed pension benefits. They even cited a $10-per-week per worker charge they said Hostess claimed was needed to boost company capital.
“They have taken and taken and taken from us,” said Debi White, who has worked at Hostess for 26 years, most recently as a bun handler at its bread and roll plant in Lenexa, Kansas.
“They have been walking around stomping their foot saying either you give in … or else we’re going to close you now. Well, go ahead, we’re tired of their threats,” she said. “That’s how we feel.”
Hostess workers are now scrambling to figure out when their health insurance runs out — or if it already has — and where and how to apply for job retraining and unemployment benefits.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2
2 Thessalonians 3:10 “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.”
So much for socialist Christianity.
The Rogue Tomato on November 22, 2012 at 1:12 PM
and then your wife died…..
ctmom on November 22, 2012 at 1:13 PM
You just get dumber and dumber every day don’t you?
xblade on November 22, 2012 at 1:13 PM
Thanks! That is my core argument against welfare. We, as a good people, CAN afford to take care of those who TRULY cannot do for themselves, because once you throw away all the BS, that number of people is actually VERY SMALL.
What we can’t afford is to take care of the lazy and unwilling. Nor is there any moral obligation to do so. Sloth is one of the 7 Deadly Sins. People who choose to be career moochers and looters ARE slothful.
wildcat72 on November 22, 2012 at 1:15 PM
Skilled and unskilled labor, never to forget.
The fact that most Asians, the supposedly smart people, voted for Obama should tell the skilled people what it’s all about.
The Rs sell the land for cheap labor.
The Ds sell the land for votes.
To Hell with both, and all theirs. May they suffer immeasurably, eternally. It’s my Thanksgiving with for them and theirs.
Schadenfreude on November 22, 2012 at 1:17 PM
God loves triers. Quitters not so much.
wildcat72 on November 22, 2012 at 1:17 PM
Anything X zero = zero
Schadenfreude on November 22, 2012 at 1:17 PM
Yeh crickets now from Ernesto..
CW on November 22, 2012 at 1:19 PM
Exactly. I’m pretty fed up with my job too but if I dont like it here I can leave.
Dash on November 22, 2012 at 1:19 PM
That’s why we need a Conservative Party. Conservatives make up the single largest ideological group in the United States, outnumbering liberals by at least 2-1 (they rarely top 20%). The country club establishment RINO crowd is just as much a parasite on the hard working conservative as the liberal Looters are.
After 2006, 2008, and 2012, I am DONE with the GOP. I’m not giving them one red cent ever again, and I am removing my party registration.
wildcat72 on November 22, 2012 at 1:20 PM
Hey, good for you. If you think you can find another job in this shi**y economy, go right ahead. I proud of your self-confidence.
tommy71 on November 22, 2012 at 1:20 PM
Obama and his Looters will love, love, love you.
They enslave the population, one group at a time. The sheeple are clueless, until it’s too late.
Schadenfreude on November 22, 2012 at 1:20 PM
There’s no law–YET–that requires a business owner to stay in business in order to employ people. I doubt the owner of Hostess will suffer personally and good for them.
vityas on November 22, 2012 at 1:20 PM
No doubt.
Ernie might have a point if all the workers individually had a choice…but Ernie is anti-choice.
CW on November 22, 2012 at 1:22 PM
wildcat72 on November 22, 2012 at 1:20 PM
I did that years ago. None are worth your sweat.
Starve the Looters, always.
Schadenfreude on November 22, 2012 at 1:22 PM
There isn’t such a law, YET you mean.
There will be something like this tried when things get even worse than they are now (and they are going to).
wildcat72 on November 22, 2012 at 1:22 PM
I used to hang my hat on that Conservative poll…
People are lying.
at least 50% of the Blacks claim to be conservative. They vote progressive.
Although, I think I would be happy with a minority conservative party that had actual factual litmus tests for membership.
It is what I would see Palin doing if she ran for and won Election under the Republican party. Changing her party affiliation to a new party brand, such as Tea or Conservative after election working to take as many house and senate members as she could.
astonerii on November 22, 2012 at 1:23 PM
“Yet” is the key word.
Schadenfreude on November 22, 2012 at 1:23 PM
This. The unions live by mob rule and extortion.
CW on November 22, 2012 at 1:24 PM
One of the big problems for Hostess was not wage and benefits demands, but union work rules (a/k/a/ “featherbedding”).
Only Wonder Bread trucks could deliver Wonder Bread. Only Hostess trucks could deliver Hostess baked goods. Thus, two trucks might go to the same grocery store, one right after another. Add in the waste from requiring extra trucks and fuel costs. (UPS routes its drivers so carefully that they never make left turns if they can avoid them; idling for the turn burns too much fuel).
Hostess trucks could only be loaded by Hostess loaders. (and certainly not the truck drivers). Wonder Bread trucks could only be loaded by Wonder Bread loaders.
Compare this to say, how Southwest Airlines allows cross-over work.
Also reminds me of the labor law case I read in law school from the early 1950s. The railroad unions insisted on keeping the position of coal shoveler…even after the locomotives went diesel.
Wethal on November 22, 2012 at 1:24 PM
Wethal on November 22, 2012 at 1:24 PM
If one couldn’t laugh about this world one would have to despair.
Schadenfreude on November 22, 2012 at 1:27 PM
Let’s see how they do on unmeployment or anything that they may get from their union. Remember, the Teamsters are angry at them for causing damage to their other union members.
Voter from WA State on November 22, 2012 at 1:35 PM
That’s Ernie’s free-market.
CW on November 22, 2012 at 1:37 PM
Could someone please explain to me what a bun handler does?
Hot Gas on November 22, 2012 at 1:57 PM
I could, but my girlfriend would punch me so hard my John Thomas would turn inside out. X-D
MelonCollie on November 22, 2012 at 2:14 PM
If you can hook me up with Eva Mendes, I’ll gladly demonstrate.
The Rogue Tomato on November 22, 2012 at 2:33 PM
They went Galt.
RINOs are people too on November 22, 2012 at 2:59 PM
To a degree, it sure seems like it. Salting the Earth like the supposed hero’s of Atlas Shrugged did.
astonerii on November 22, 2012 at 3:07 PM
26 years and already he’s moved up to bun handler. I need this guys resume. Apparently a real self-starter.
BobMbx on November 22, 2012 at 3:10 PM
menial task any healthy high school drop out could do getting paid probably in excess of $20 an hour.
astonerii on November 22, 2012 at 3:17 PM
mmmmmmmmmmmmk
29Victor on November 22, 2012 at 3:25 PM
Um…no…they aren’t finding competitive wages anywhere now. Just figuring out how to exploit the government benefits system.
There are probably plenty of people that would work in their stead in this economy. It is a seller’s (employer’s) market, not a buyer’s (employee’s) market. Employers can pick and choose, since there is a glut of workers.
After all, it isn’t rocket science with all the automation. Ask anyone who has watched the Food Channel for a while.
A learning curve and some experience, certainly. But they aren’t baking that stuff by hand over an open fire.
ProfShadow on November 22, 2012 at 3:29 PM
Zombie Twinkies will feed the unemployed bun handlers!
profitsbeard on November 22, 2012 at 4:16 PM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2