Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A bitter Twinkie to swallow

I was checking my Yahoo email a little bit ago, when I noticed an article about Hostess union workers threatening to strike.  Being a curious guy who likes his treats I decided to check things out.  What I found rather surprised me, although maybe it shouldn't have.

Okay, first things first I am not a Union guy, never have been and likely never will be.  They did a great service to this country and improved working conditions both here and in other countries.  Sadly, most of them have been just as mismanaged as the corporations they rail against, resulting in them becoming, in my opinion, a drag both on the businesses they work with and the people they claim to serve.  While there are some out there that serve their purpose well, overall I'm not fond of them.

That being said, I can understand where the Hostess employees are coming from.  They're scared about their jobs, frustrated with management, and worried that they'll get the shaft.  Threatening a strike in this economy might not be the best move, but they really only have a limited set of tools to work with.  Ultimately their fate, like the fate of many people involved in this is in the hands of the courts now as Hostess works to come up with a reorganization plan.

My curiosity got the better of me after reading the article, which basically was about a union boss saying he didn't want his people screwed over.  That I can respect, and not knowing any details of their current pay/benefits I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.  I scrolled down to the bottom to the comments section and was surprised at the sheer rage that was being directed at the union.  Not sure if it was people who were themselves looking for work, people worried about their snack cakes, or just plain old internet trolling, but some of them were down right mean.

I do think they're making a mistake at this point threatening to go on strike.  Hostess is struggling at this point, and a work stoppage could easily tip them from reorganizing to liquidating, and no one wins if that happens.  They should not be asked to shoulder the entire burden of reducing costs by any means, but at the same time labor costs are almost always the largest cost any business has, especially a manufacturing one, so it would require some major magic to prevent them from taking some sort of hit.  If Hostess' management was capable of that they likely wouldn't be in the position they're in.

A final note, I personally blame management at Hostess for this situation, and often do under these circumstances.  Unions by their nature have to try to do their best for their members, and it is management's responsibility to keep their demands in line with what is possible for the company to sustain.  Unions make that job harder it's true, but that still doesn't absolve management of their responsibility to keep labor costs down in order to make a profit.  A good management/union relationship benefits both sides, and I can't help but feel that's part of what is lacking here.

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