Posts : 15226 Join date : 2010-06-06 Age : 76 Location : Denton
Subject: Twinkies And Golden Eggs Fri Nov 23, 2012 4:43 pm
Twinkies And Golden Eggs
By THOMAS SOWELL / Syndicated columnist
Killing the goose that lays the golden egg is one of those fairy tales with a heavy message that a lot of adults should listen to. The labor unions that have driven the makers of Twinkies into bankruptcy, potentially destroying 18,500 jobs (subject to court-ordered mediation), could learn a lot from that old fairy tale.
Many people think of labor unions as organizations to benefit workers, and think of employers who are opposed to unions as just people who don't want to pay their employees more money. But some employers have made it a point to pay their employees more than the union wages, just to keep them from joining a union.
Why would they do that, if it is just a question of not wanting to pay union wages? The Hostess Brands bankruptcy is a classic example of costs created by labor unions that are not confined to paychecks.
The work rules imposed in union contracts required Hostess, which makes Twinkies and Wonder Bread, to deliver these two products to stores in separate trucks. Moreover, truck drivers were not allowed to load either of these products into their trucks. And the people who did load Twinkies into trucks were not allowed to load Wonder Bread, and vice versa.
All of this was obviously intended to create more jobs for the unions' members. But the needless additional costs that these make-work rules created ended up driving the company into bankruptcy, which can cost 18,500 jobs. The union is killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
Not only are there reasons for employers to pay their workers enough to keep them from joining unions, there are reasons why workers in the private sector have increasingly voted against joining unions. They have seen unions driving jobs away to nonunion competitors at home or driving them overseas, whether with costly work rules or in other ways.
The legendary labor leader John L. Lewis called so many strikes in the coal mines that many people switched to using heating oil instead, because they couldn't depend on coal deliveries. A professor of labor economics at the University of Chicago called John L. Lewis "the world's greatest oil salesman."
There is no question that Lewis' United Mine Workers Union raised the pay and other benefits for coal miners. But the higher costs of producing coal not only led many consumers to switch to oil, these costs also led coal companies to substitute machinery for labor, reducing the number of miners.
By the 1960s, many coal-mining towns were almost ghost towns. But few people connected the dots back to the glory years of John L. Lewis. The United Mine Workers Union did not kill the goose that laid the golden eggs, but it created a situation where fewer of those golden eggs reached the miners.
It was much the same story in the automobile industry and the steel industry, where large pensions and costly work rules drove up the prices of finished products and drove down the number of jobs. There is a reason why there was a major decline in the proportion of private sector employees who joined unions. It was not just the number of union workers who ended up losing their jobs. Other workers saw the handwriting on the wall and refused to join unions.
There is also a reason why labor unions are flourishing among people who work for government. No matter how much these public sector unions drive up costs, government agencies do not go out of business. They simply go back to the taxpayers for more money.
Consumers in the private sector have the option of buying products and services from competing, non-union companies-- from Toyota instead of General Motors, for example, even though most Toyotas sold in America are made in America. Consumers of other products can buy things made in non-union factories overseas.
But government agencies are monopolies. You cannot get your Social Security checks from anywhere except the Social Security Administration or your driver's license from anywhere but the DMV.
Is it surprising that government employees have seen their pay go up, even during economic downturns, and their pensions rise to levels undreamed of in the private sector? None of this will kill the goose that lays the golden egg, so long as there are both current taxpayers and future taxpayers to pay off debts passed on to them.
UncleFrank Honored Armed Service Member
Posts : 11868 Join date : 2010-07-25 Age : 74 Location : Commie occupied N.J.
Subject: Re: Twinkies And Golden Eggs Sat Nov 24, 2012 3:44 pm
You got to say one thing for unions....they sure can kill a good thing.
Alley_Oop Mod/Admin Admin
Posts : 15226 Join date : 2010-06-06 Age : 76 Location : Denton
Subject: Re: Twinkies And Golden Eggs Sun Nov 25, 2012 8:38 am
Ain't that the darn truth!!
UncleFrank Honored Armed Service Member
Posts : 11868 Join date : 2010-07-25 Age : 74 Location : Commie occupied N.J.
Subject: Re: Twinkies And Golden Eggs Sun Nov 25, 2012 3:34 pm
It also shows the intelligent level of their members, not realizing that too much of a good thing can cripple a company to the point they go belly up. I suppose it's the ME ME attitude ant it's grandest.
Alley_Oop Mod/Admin Admin
Posts : 15226 Join date : 2010-06-06 Age : 76 Location : Denton
Subject: Re: Twinkies And Golden Eggs Sun Dec 02, 2012 6:08 am
A real big part of the equation is when the unemployment and union benefits added together pay as much if not more than a paycheck, there is something terribly wrong with the system! I fear there will be several more that follow this path until the culling of the herd has taken place. Who knows how long that will take but it is coming I believe!!!
UncleFrank Honored Armed Service Member
Posts : 11868 Join date : 2010-07-25 Age : 74 Location : Commie occupied N.J.
Subject: Re: Twinkies And Golden Eggs Sun Dec 02, 2012 12:35 pm
I think you have something there. I think I will sock some nuts away for a harsh winter.
Alley_Oop Mod/Admin Admin
Posts : 15226 Join date : 2010-06-06 Age : 76 Location : Denton
Subject: Re: Twinkies And Golden Eggs Mon Dec 03, 2012 6:24 pm
Unions have shut down most of the ports on the left coast!!! Read that today! Dock workers are not happy and 8 of 11 ports are shut down! What was mentioned in the article was if the shipper/owners cannot depend on the ports being open for business they will just use other ports that are not unionized!! That is totally ignorant for a union to pull that!! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!!!
UncleFrank Honored Armed Service Member
Posts : 11868 Join date : 2010-07-25 Age : 74 Location : Commie occupied N.J.
Subject: Re: Twinkies And Golden Eggs Wed Dec 05, 2012 3:31 pm
I suppose if I was a shipping magnet, I would do the same thing. Talk about shooting one's self in the foot. How long will the unions last when there is no jobs to go to? Will they unionize the bread lines?
Alley_Oop Mod/Admin Admin
Posts : 15226 Join date : 2010-06-06 Age : 76 Location : Denton
Subject: Re: Twinkies And Golden Eggs Thu Dec 06, 2012 6:24 pm
I heard they has settled the dock workers strike in LA a couple of days ago but they have a couple of weeks work stacked up and may not get everything sorted out by Xmas~!!! Also heard several of the big shippers were already looking into other ports to use so they would not get caught like this again!!! What a bunch of mooks!!! Stupid is as stupid does!!! TWIT!!