Tag Archives: twinkies

Have unions outlived their value?

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Before there were child labor laws, occupational safety laws, and a minimum wage, the unions in this country provided a huge service to their members.  In more recent times, unions have single-handedly harmed and killed businesses throughout the United States.  The death of Hostess Bakery came at the hands of a union.  In this case, it wasn’t the Teamsters.  They worked out a deal with Hostess.  We owe this one to the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (http://www.bctgm.org/).  That union is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.  Maybe the AFL-CIO should take the $5.95 million its Political Action Committee gave to the Democrat Party in 2012 and give it to the families of the newly unemployed that it helped to create.

What are unions doing for us today?  They make sure that pro athletes get tons of money.  They don’t seem to do that for everyone though.  The three most important jobs an American can hold today are teacher, police officer, and firefighter.  In spite of the fact that these professions are largely unionized, the noble men and women in these jobs are some of the most notoriously underpaid in the nation.  A large group of people making less than them today are 18,500 Americans that used to have a job with Hostess.

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Looking into my crystal Sno-Ball

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As I look into my crystal Sno-Ball, here is what I see.  Within 90 days, a foreign-owned corporation will buy the intellectual property of Hostess, buy the briefly idled buildings and delivery trucks, and hire 18,500 non-union Americans to put the products back on the shelves.  In the mean time, 18,500 Americans who paid their unions to get them fired will become part of the ever-growing number of Americans using food stamps.  When they see Twinkies back on the shelves they will need Obamacare to pay for the injuries they’ll suffer from kicking themselves.

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Follow-up – February 11, 2013

Judge OKs auction of Hostess brands.

Source: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-11/business/chi-judge-oks-auction-of-hostess-brands-20130211_1_hostess-brands-perella-weinberg-partners-baseline-offer

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Follow-up – January 30, 2013

Apollo Global Management LLC and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co have set a baseline offer of $410 million for Hostess.

Source: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-30/news/sns-rt-hostess-twinkies-urgentwnab00qdr-20130130_1_snack-cake-baseline-offer-private-equity-firms