Twinkies bakers say they'd rather lose jobs than take pay cuts

[majortom1981]

Yeah, much like the union for electricians....of which many, many union members have been on a list for 3-4 years now, waiting for a job opening. And, when the union worker finally makes it to the top of the list, if they work over 2 weeks on a small job they are sent back to the bottom of the list. So, they either find that lucky, rare, long-term position or work very sporadically and maintain position on the union list, or not work at all. I'm sure though that the baking industry has openings just popping up everywhere and they won't have similar problems....yeah, right.

Considering another company will probably buy the brands they will have a whole bunch of jobs. I think the union figures it will be easier to negotiate with a new buyer then to negotiate with hostess.

[Rohdekill]

Considering another company will probably buy the brands they will have a whole bunch of jobs. I think the union figures it will be easier to negotiate with a new buyer then to negotiate with hostess.

Another company will buy the recipe and rights and make it in their existing business with their existing workers. Unless a single company is able to obtain ALL of the recipes and rights....then maybe.

[majortom1981]

Another company will buy the recipe and rights and make it in their existing business with their existing workers. Unless a single company is able to obtain ALL of the recipes and rights....then maybe.

I think it would be a lot more expensive to have to retool a factory to make a new product then to just buy say the twinkie factory. Remember to retool a factory you would have to shut it down which would mean loss of revenue for the product that had to halt production.

From what I have seen on non biased articles is that it was basically hostess who went to the union. We are dfinitely closing 3 bakeries. You either work with us and reduce costs or everything closes. The union I guess figures they have better chances of less people losing their jobs dealing with another company then having atleast 3 bakeries closing.

Keep in mind all the problems hostess is having because of bad management. This is their 2nd bankruptcy. The union probably sees hostes plan as a temporary fix and that it would be better if they tried to negotiate with the new buyer.

Keep in mind that I could be wrong but since I am in a union I am guessing at their thinking. Also keep in mind the take the deal vs strike and close could have been off by 1 vote.

[DeadEndAccount]

Good luck getting a job elsewhere that'll pay you $35k a year to bake.

Many people are living on half of that.

i don't know why these people are feeling entitled to all this crap when the company as a whole isnt even making enough to pay them what they want.

So these people should just quit, and give people who want to work the jobs.

If he is a qualified baker, that is, he studied for an apprenticeship etc. then he should head overseas because I know at least where I work there are demands for qualified bakers left, right and centre which can't be filled by locals. $35K at least where I live can go along way.

[DeadEndAccount]

Would a "qualified baker" work at hostess pushing buttons on huge machines to mass bake sugary snacks?

You'd think a qualified baker would work in a real store or restaurant making fancy real cakes for weddings, and such, alot more money doing that, plus its real baking.

I assume if they're (the original article) are going to throw around terms that maybe they should call them a 'kitchen hand' given that the term baker implies a person who is actually a trained baker who works in a bakery.

[threetonesun]

$35k including overtime? And $10k less than he was making before?

Yeah, I can see why they'd walk out. If you think a job is so sacred that you should never give it up at any cost, you're going to get screwed by this economy.

[soniqstylz]

Again, Hostess was making $2.5billion in sales.

Typically labor cost is 30-40% - for 18,500 workers that's about $45k per employee (base), at the low end.

Teamsters workers were getting $18 - $19 per hour, or about $39k.

Apparently bakers union workers made significantly less than that if it took overtime to get $35k.

Bad management. Let the zombie die.