Hostess Bakeries was recently allowed to close
its doors when mediation between the union and the company failed. In St.
Louis, the company never really changed its image or racist practices in 40
years. The ITT conglomerate was hit by a boycott back in 1971 from ACTION, an
interracial, direct-action protest organization. Because all the ACTION demands
were never met, the boycott remained in effect.
There were three unions that represent the 18, 500 workers across the country. They are the Bakers, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM), United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the International Teamsters Union. Union workers stood tall and firm in their refusal to be intimidated by the bullying tactics of the company. They now all face unemployment.
When Hostess Brands announced it was seeking bankruptcy (again) in the midst of contract disputes with its union workers, the workers went on strike. To add insult to injury, the company announced it intended to pay $1.75 million in bonuses to 19 of its executives. The company has been in bankruptcy for about eight years of the last decade. It had stopped paying into the workers' pensions, and decreased health benefits but seemed to be taking good care of its top execs.
Even as it was throwing the blame of the company's dismal future at the feet of the workers, Hostess had already given its executives pay raises earlier this year. The CEO's salary tripled from $750,000 to about $2.5 million. This doesn't exactly sound like a company in financial trouble. It sounds more like a company who wants to maintain superprofits for the top execs and its shareholders on the backs of its workers.
There were three unions that represent the 18, 500 workers across the country. They are the Bakers, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM), United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the International Teamsters Union. Union workers stood tall and firm in their refusal to be intimidated by the bullying tactics of the company. They now all face unemployment.
When Hostess Brands announced it was seeking bankruptcy (again) in the midst of contract disputes with its union workers, the workers went on strike. To add insult to injury, the company announced it intended to pay $1.75 million in bonuses to 19 of its executives. The company has been in bankruptcy for about eight years of the last decade. It had stopped paying into the workers' pensions, and decreased health benefits but seemed to be taking good care of its top execs.
Even as it was throwing the blame of the company's dismal future at the feet of the workers, Hostess had already given its executives pay raises earlier this year. The CEO's salary tripled from $750,000 to about $2.5 million. This doesn't exactly sound like a company in financial trouble. It sounds more like a company who wants to maintain superprofits for the top execs and its shareholders on the backs of its workers.
http://www.zcommunications.org/blaming-the-workers-until-the-bitter-end-by-jamala-rogers
