Slashdot Mirror

Well... Let's See about that... Oh wait, I'm having trouble finding support for him. Oh wait, I found this Wikipedia page So, the police and firefighters unions. That's it.

Do you honestly believe the teamsters will let that happen?

The union stepped up and did their part, and management screwed them, and refused to make an actual management changes.

Actually, no.

I followed this story. The way it actually worked:

Hostess went into bankruptcy in 2004. It found investors who bailed it out and it kept going.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostess_Brands#Bankruptcy_.282004.29

Hostess went into bankruptcy again. It found additional investors who bailed it out and it kept going.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostess_Brands#Bankruptcy_and_liquidation_.282012.29

Hostess was running out of money. Management set up a deal that would cut costs by paying workers less. This was not what the workers wanted, but according to management, it was essential to save the jobs.

One thing that riled up the workers: management got paid a lot. In an effort to make the workers happier, the top four guys at Hostess had their salaries lowered to $1 per year for 2012.

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/26/hostess-twinkies-bankrupt/

But the major costs at Hostess had to do with worker salaries, particularly with respect to delivery of Hostess products. Union rules required Hostess snack foods and Wonder bread foods to be delivered on different trucks, which had to be loaded by different people. A "Hostess" worker couldn't load a "Wonder" truck, a "Wonder" driver couldn't drive a "Hostess" truck, and the company couldn't contract out delivery. So, if a small town in a distant location wanted to buy Hostess cakes and Wonder bread, two trucks would have to drive out there, not one. Also, there is some complicated stuff I don't really understand about Hostess paying pensions to a whole bunch of workers, many of whom had never worked for Hostess.

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-on-the-right/111912-633985-unions-dont-always-benefit-workers.htm?p=full

http://ohioansforworkplacefreedom.com/how-unions-killed-twinkies-and-wonderbread/

Now, pay attention, because here's the key part: the Teamsters Union had been fighting with Hostess management, and they had seen the accounting numbers, and they believed that (at least on this issue) management was not lying. If Hostess didn't cut labor costs, it was doomed.

I am not an expert on unions, but my impression is that the Teamsters Union is not exactly a shill for management.

It wasn't Teamsters Union workers who went on strike: it was workers of a smaller union called the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM). The Teamsters Union publicly told BCTGM not to strike. Check out this page from the Teamsters Union web site:

http://www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-bakery-workers-should-hold-secret-ballot-vote-hostess

The story gets even crazier. Management publicly told BCTGM that if the strike wasn't over by a specific date, they would shut down Hostess. BCTGM continued to strike. Management shut down the company. Then... a judge ordered both sides into an extra round of negotiations, and I thought to myself, "Here is where BCTGM can back down yet save face. They were unwavering in the face of a threat, they can proudly tell their members that they didn't back down until they were forced to, but they can still save all the jobs." But it was not to be. BCTGM continued to strike and Hostess shut down.

If the Robot is carrying a Teamsters Union Card, that would be "constructively" profound.

Although I agree with you that most companies are strictly short-term thinkers, there is at least one out there that is taking a different approach. Which naturally pisses some people off on Wall Street because all that money spent on wages and insurance should be bettering valuation or dividends instead.

Yeah, like Costco.

Oh, wait...

I do not know about you, but it has been proven to me on numerous occasions that it is easy to fire anyone in the USA. Now it may be that certain union workers -The Teamsters- might be able to get away with that, but I live in a right to work state, and here they are considered mostly a joke.

At last, I wont have to worry about getting around bubba and his double-wide on the highway anymore.
Seriously, a huge percentage of highway and rail use is for construction materials. Check out the Department of Transportation's annual report. Focusing manufacturing into a few areas (close to the materials) would have a huge impact. This could shake up a lot of industries. The Teamsters better get into the blimp business fast.

But ultimately they pay a tax on their profit, rather than paying a tax on the service which they provide.

The postage and packaging isn't having a sale tax applied so they aren't paying for roads in your state through it.

UPS is probably only paying tax on the profit from the sale in the state in which the service is sold. So it isn't paying tax for the road to your door in this transaction.