| StripedWalrus |
11-17-2012 01:37 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by descendency
(Post 3183904)
Better than the "you're getting a 100% pay cut, you're losing your medical insurance, and you're losing your pension" talk.
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That is a very poor way to look at it. If everyone looked at it that way there would be zero labor laws and everyone would be working in foul conditions with very little pay.
Hostess was not providing something for its employees. So the workers at some point unionized. There are many companies out there that have no unionized workers and treat their employees very well so they do not need to unionize. However in this case, Hostess failed in some areas and the workers unionized.
Now under one union they have a MEPP pension. This is something Hostess agreed to. Hostess didn't have to agree to it, and Hostess doesnt have to have unionized workers either. However Hostess did agree to it. In August of last year Hostess stopped paying towards the pension. This leaves a burden on other companies whom are unionized under the same MEPP. Thats something like $200 million dollars they owe to that pension fund. The grand total on the pension fund owed(which has been underfunded for years) is 2 billion dollars. On top of that 3-4 years ago Hostess almost went under but was bailed out by two loan companies and the unions. The workers took pay cuts and Health Care prices rose on them then. The CEO then abandoned his job, a new CEO was hired in and was payed what a CEO is payed and the company spent the next 3 years failing to improve anything. They continued to lose.
So after 3 years pass, your company had 100's of millions of dollars invested in it...you took a pay cut, your medical insurance prices rose, and a new CEO comes in, makes more than the last CEO (1.5 million a year with 2 million incentive and a 1.9 million dollar guarantee if Hostess goes bankrupt or he gets fired) , yet your company still fails to do anything to fix their current situation 3 years later other than lower your pay again, raise medical insurance burden by 20%, and then want to dissolve the pension. How would that make someone feel? They brought in a specialist and paid in $125,000 a month.
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