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Hostess Saves Twinkies By Automating, Fires 94% Of Their Workforce (washingtonpost.com)
An anonymous Slashdot reader writes:
Where Twinkie once employed 22,000 workers in more than 40 bakeries, their workforce is now down to just 1,170, reports the Washington Post, relying mostly on robotic arms and other forms of automation. "This 500-person plant produces more than 1 million Twinkies a day, 400 million a year. That's 80% of Hostess' total output -- output that under the old regime required 14 plants and 9,000 employees."
"We like to think of ourselves as a billion-dollar startup," Hostess chief executive Bill Toler said Tuesday, announcing that Hostess Brands, which had twice filed for bankruptcy, now plans to become a publicly-listed company valued at $2.3 billion.
"We like to think of ourselves as a billion-dollar startup," Hostess chief executive Bill Toler said Tuesday, announcing that Hostess Brands, which had twice filed for bankruptcy, now plans to become a publicly-listed company valued at $2.3 billion.
So you're against the only voice and advocacy group the average worker ever had? Are you a republican or one of those dog-eat-dog, pull-em-up-by-the-bootstraps, feast-on-the-fallen libertarian bastards?
Unions offer employees the power of collective bargaining. Try going in there alone and asking for higher pay without a coalition to back you up. Unions built the middle class in this country. Are you in such a hurry to go back to the gilded age? If so, say goodbye to weekends, paid sick days, workers comp, safety regulations that keep you from dying in hazardous conditions, et. al.
Not only that, unions offer workers a way to lobby to further their own interests. You can be damn certain the rich are lobbying to advance theirs, which usually run contrary to everybody else's well being.
1) Its a shame that we now have more unemployed people. While many of them are somewhat to blame in terms of not taking the initiative and updating their own skills having a post Hostess employment plan etc, I think we can agree there were challenges as well. Society has failed structurally to provide many with the opportunities and tools to keep a viable career path open for their working lifetime.
What 'skills' do you think a factory worker needs to keep up to date precisely? How to become a robot in 3 easy steps? The only thing society has failed at is not punishing upper echelons of management for negligence, incompetence and illegal activities.