When Hostess began to face financial woes, the company’s CEO got a 300% salary increase from $750,000 to $2,250,000. It was discovered that the former Hostess CEO tripled his salary in early 2012. Meanwhile, a number of top executives saw massive pay raises, some nearly doubling their salaries. The new CEO blamed union workers for the company’s bankruptcy filing—yet it's the workers who were the very ones who gave concessions multiple times in the past few years. In December, a staggering $1.8 million in bonuses were awarded to executives AFTER the bankruptcy filing. In late 2012, Hostess Brands admitted to The Wall Street Journal that money taken out of workers' paychecks—intended for their retirement funds—was used for company operations instead. Hostess is one example of executives' blame-the-worker and blame-a-union game.
I could've run the company into the ground for far less money.
What, that unions are to blame for all that is wrong with corporate America? Sure plenty of evidence for that. Tired of the canards regarding unions being tossed around as "facts."
too true. I had an tech that worked for me as both a student and as a regular employee. He had the patience of Job when working with end users. He would listen to them and work hard to understand what they were saying, what they wanted, what their problem was even when they really couldn't articulate it themselves. He went that extra mile to make folks happy....but without enabling bad behavior - he was good at nudging folks in the proper direction. He was a tenacious troubleshooter, wanted to know the root cause of a problem and how to prevent it, not just a quick fix or a work-around. I could throw anything at him, and let him run with it. And he did it all with a smile, but was not a pushover for the users.
told you that to tell you this
The layoff scythe swept across our college and he was mowed-down. He did find a position in the University's central IT department. It was hoped by some that his work ethic and attitude would improve central IT support...and it did for a time, but the corrosive environment, infighting, and court intrigue has ground him down. To say that he is still a damn-sight better than the rest of their staff would be damning with faint praise, but he still is. He is also more BOFH than the excellent worker I sent over there.
Wasn't the end users that broke him, was the brain-dead management and sheer laziness and incompetence of his "colleagues" that did it.
Its a sign of things to come for the economy though. If electric cars take over the market, the demand for car maintenance will collapse...p>
Because Electric cars have no systems that require any maintenance at all? 100% trouble-free electrical systems? Accessories that will always work? Suspension systems that will never require service?
I can see there being less need for some maintenance without an internal combustion engine (ICE) but then again the current crop of ICEs require far less maintenance than those of the past. Synthetic oil pushes up the oil change interval, heck, spark plugs go for 100,000 miles before needing replacement.
I fondly remember how much better my Chevelle ran after a complete tuneup that included plugs, cap, rotor, points, PVC valve, timing and dwell adjustment (and that was this teenager's idea of a good time on a Saturday afternoon)...you kids know what half those parts are? What does a tune-up consist of these days? Opening the hood and making sure the engine is still there about covers it.
... LA is going to have to significantly improve its mass transit (ie subway, light rail, street cars NOT buses.
Thank you. Some places buses can help, but ultimately they sit in the same traffic as the cars and many riders think that they'd rather be in their car listening ti their music rather than sitting on a bus in traffic. While much more expensive than buses, transit that has its own uncongested right-of-way make much more sense.
wish I could take a train to work, but I'd still rather ride my bus than drive myself...and I am one of the car-loving nut-cases.
...The next best thing (and better for LA) would be to fund a rail line that essentially parallels the 405...., the combination of bike and train is faster than driving at rush hour.
What are you? Some kind of green pinko commie socialist? What is more socialist that public transportation? That is not what this country needs! Clearly if the road is getting congested again by private cars, then we need to spend more...uh...public money on more...uh, public roads! Why would I want to pay for something that I have to share with others like mass transit? I might have to sit next to someone that doesn't think or look like me!
that won't work, people would howl and scream! Hey, what if there were a way to charge some kind of fee to the people that use the infrastructure? Naw, that'd never work either.
Except that you forget the indirect costs of the traffic jams and accidents, which can be huge too. The problem is that the construction companies are not accountable for these costs, so they don't care. If they would be accountable, I bet every project would be finished in no-time.
I really don't understand why America is so bad at managing these kinds of projects.
Because Americans want their infrastructure like everything else: cheap. Won't pay to do it right the first time, just pay for the same shoddy work over and over again. Something like this "thowing money at the problem" by hiring more people to work would actually help, but people do not want to pay for that. How much does their lost time and wasted fuel sitting in construction zone cost them?
... a job that the government supposedly gave to the lowest bidder, which has already missed its time target and is overbudget is insane.
Perhaps always awarding the contracts to the company which makes artificially low bids is the problem - they always figure they can make money back later on change orders and overruns. Ought to use slightly different criteria than just the lowest bid to pick the contractor. Also look at a contractor's history of past performance on projects...but then the whiners would say we are spending too much, why didn't you hire a cheaper construction company?,/p>
Glad you made sure to include a gratuitous union slam in you statement.. You have a problem with people earning a living? Perhaps the construction workers ought to be like Walmart workers and collecting aid from the government while they are working a job?
My old boss always said "you cannot be a prophet in your own land."
I am reminded about the time the two of us were pushing for this new thing called the "World Wide Web" or some such. Administration in the college said that it was nice, but gopher does all we'll ever need.
Slashdot Mirror
When Hostess began to face financial woes, the company’s CEO got a 300% salary increase from $750,000 to $2,250,000. It was discovered that the former Hostess CEO tripled his salary in early 2012. Meanwhile, a number of top executives saw massive pay raises, some nearly doubling their salaries. The new CEO blamed union workers for the company’s bankruptcy filing—yet it's the workers who were the very ones who gave concessions multiple times in the past few years. In December, a staggering $1.8 million in bonuses were awarded to executives AFTER the bankruptcy filing. In late 2012, Hostess Brands admitted to The Wall Street Journal that money taken out of workers' paychecks—intended for their retirement funds—was used for company operations instead. Hostess is one example of executives' blame-the-worker and blame-a-union game.
I could've run the company into the ground for far less money.
Think someone likes to paint all unions with the Hoffa-era Teamsters brush.
What, that unions are to blame for all that is wrong with corporate America? Sure plenty of evidence for that. Tired of the canards regarding unions being tossed around as "facts."
and the Twinkies will cost the same or more
you may not have been getting your Twinkies, but clearly you are still drinking the Kool-Aid.
regardless if the workers were part of a union or not.
too true. I had an tech that worked for me as both a student and as a regular employee. He had the patience of Job when working with end users. He would listen to them and work hard to understand what they were saying, what they wanted, what their problem was even when they really couldn't articulate it themselves. He went that extra mile to make folks happy....but without enabling bad behavior - he was good at nudging folks in the proper direction. He was a tenacious troubleshooter, wanted to know the root cause of a problem and how to prevent it, not just a quick fix or a work-around. I could throw anything at him, and let him run with it. And he did it all with a smile, but was not a pushover for the users.
told you that to tell you this
The layoff scythe swept across our college and he was mowed-down. He did find a position in the University's central IT department. It was hoped by some that his work ethic and attitude would improve central IT support...and it did for a time, but the corrosive environment, infighting, and court intrigue has ground him down. To say that he is still a damn-sight better than the rest of their staff would be damning with faint praise, but he still is. He is also more BOFH than the excellent worker I sent over there.
Wasn't the end users that broke him, was the brain-dead management and sheer laziness and incompetence of his "colleagues" that did it.
How about instead we just focus on facts, not ideology in education.
But facts have a well known liberal bias.
ahh, thanks for the return of the nightmares! My hands still show the scars.
Its a sign of things to come for the economy though. If electric cars take over the market, the demand for car maintenance will collapse...p>
Because Electric cars have no systems that require any maintenance at all? 100% trouble-free electrical systems? Accessories that will always work? Suspension systems that will never require service?
I can see there being less need for some maintenance without an internal combustion engine (ICE) but then again the current crop of ICEs require far less maintenance than those of the past. Synthetic oil pushes up the oil change interval, heck, spark plugs go for 100,000 miles before needing replacement.
I fondly remember how much better my Chevelle ran after a complete tuneup that included plugs, cap, rotor, points, PVC valve, timing and dwell adjustment (and that was this teenager's idea of a good time on a Saturday afternoon)...you kids know what half those parts are? What does a tune-up consist of these days? Opening the hood and making sure the engine is still there about covers it.
was afraid that was going to be goatse
Guess I need not worry about having the software available in the labs
it may be a resource hog and really slow a machine down, but at least it misses most viruses and malware.
Was so thrilled when our campus IT folks finally dumped McAfee.
Here in Montreal that barely pays for one corrupt city official to answer the phone.
With or without the bad attitude and the French accent?
It is Montreal, no french accent - they will only speak to you in French.
... LA is going to have to significantly improve its mass transit (ie subway, light rail, street cars NOT buses.
Thank you. Some places buses can help, but ultimately they sit in the same traffic as the cars and many riders think that they'd rather be in their car listening ti their music rather than sitting on a bus in traffic. While much more expensive than buses, transit that has its own uncongested right-of-way make much more sense.
wish I could take a train to work, but I'd still rather ride my bus than drive myself...and I am one of the car-loving nut-cases.
Then don't build the on and off ramps. Problem solved. Road will last longer, too.
stop it with the facts! they mess up a good anti-gov't anti-union rant.
...The next best thing (and better for LA) would be to fund a rail line that essentially parallels the 405. ..., the combination of bike and train is faster than driving at rush hour.
What are you? Some kind of green pinko commie socialist? What is more socialist that public transportation? That is not what this country needs! Clearly if the road is getting congested again by private cars, then we need to spend more...uh...public money on more...uh, public roads! Why would I want to pay for something that I have to share with others like mass transit? I might have to sit next to someone that doesn't think or look like me!
that won't work, people would howl and scream! Hey, what if there were a way to charge some kind of fee to the people that use the infrastructure? Naw, that'd never work either.
Except that you forget the indirect costs of the traffic jams and accidents, which can be huge too. The problem is that the construction companies are not accountable for these costs, so they don't care. If they would be accountable, I bet every project would be finished in no-time.
stop hiring the lowest bidder
I really don't understand why America is so bad at managing these kinds of projects.
Because Americans want their infrastructure like everything else: cheap. Won't pay to do it right the first time, just pay for the same shoddy work over and over again. Something like this "thowing money at the problem" by hiring more people to work would actually help, but people do not want to pay for that. How much does their lost time and wasted fuel sitting in construction zone cost them?
... a job that the government supposedly gave to the lowest bidder, which has already missed its time target and is overbudget is insane.
Perhaps always awarding the contracts to the company which makes artificially low bids is the problem - they always figure they can make money back later on change orders and overruns. Ought to use slightly different criteria than just the lowest bid to pick the contractor. Also look at a contractor's history of past performance on projects...but then the whiners would say we are spending too much, why didn't you hire a cheaper construction company?,/p>
Glad you made sure to include a gratuitous union slam in you statement.. You have a problem with people earning a living? Perhaps the construction workers ought to be like Walmart workers and collecting aid from the government while they are working a job?
My old boss always said "you cannot be a prophet in your own land."
I am reminded about the time the two of us were pushing for this new thing called the "World Wide Web" or some such. Administration in the college said that it was nice, but gopher does all we'll ever need.
yup, 'cause that privatized health insurance system is working so damn well for everyone.
You either need to read-up on "Obamacare" or socialized healthcare.
Here is a hint to get you started - "single payer" ( which is not part of "Obamacare.")