Twinkies on the brinky (Updated with news that plants will reopen)

Re: Twinkies on the brinky

I worked non-union jobs for 20 years.

For 14 of those years, I had NO (zero) medical coverage.

The remaining six, I had bargain-basement coverage with massive deductibles (in tandem with chicken-scratch wages, of course). As a result I am in my mid-fifties and I have been in a doctor's office probably no more than 25 times in my adult life (that will catch up to me sooner or later, probably just about the exact time the overlords get rid of my Medicare. Oh well, at least I won't have to worry about them getting rid of Social Security, which they also plan to do in order to provide more tax cuts for the billionaires).

For about 10 of those years, I was in "salaried" positions in which I was forced to work 55-65 hours routinely, 65-75 hours intermittently, and 75-95 hours on more than a scattered basis. Yes. Ninety-five fucking hours a week. Sometimes more.

Tell me how the kind and benevolent corporations will treat their employees in an equitable fashion and there is no need for unions or labor laws to incentivize them to do so.

And then shove it all the way up your ass with a red-hot poker coated in shards of shattered glass.

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky

Sorry, I'd have to go out of network, and the deductible's just a killer! But thanks for thinking of me!

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky

doctorquaint,

Then you have me at a complete loss. All I know is you seem to be dead sure that right-to-work is some sort of superior system. All I can say is that my experience shows it isn't. And I don't think we'll sway each other, so I'm going to stop now.

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky

Oh, and I didn't just work for one shitty company -- it was three different ones.

So it wasn't just one rogue company deciding all on its own to do the Simon Legree routine.

Companies will fuck over employees as hard and deep as they possibly can. It's instinctive predator behavior.

Same thing you would expect out of a jackal, coyote or scorpion.

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky

No, not really. Right-to-work laws are designed specifically to undercut unions' abilities to financially support themselves and render them less powerful in the workplace. They allow free riders -- people who benefit from collective bargaining but who refuse to pay their fair share of the cost for that representation.

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky



Lots of junk numbers floating around, but it would be interesting to see the disparity in real wages between "right-to-work" and other states. Also, which of those states receive more federal dollars for, and spends more money on, aid to its own citizens.

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky

Nothing to add but just dropping in to say that this is a hell of thread for a product that I bet no one participating even eats.

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky



But likely to be the very last thing actually manufactured here.

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky

Wouldn't it be more accurate to say "baked". To say "manufactured" makes a Twinkie sound like it's a widget.

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky

Might as well be a widget the way they taste...

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky

I would not argue against the premise that a twinkie is closer to "manufactured" than "baked."

 

Re: Twinkies on the brinky

At the risk of opening up a can o' worms re: this study or that being not reliable because it was (potentially) funded by some "right-wing Koch-smoker," the most recent piece I could find was this article that appeared in the Journal of Labor Research* in 2003. Here's the abstract:

*JLR is, per my understanding, a pretty good journal for people who work in that area. It appears on the journal-rankings list of fairly prominent research-oriented business schools. And even if y'all don't buy this research as informative, it wasn't a total waste of time. I found several schools that rank above mine that consider one of my publications (which my school considers just so-so) to be an "outstanding" hit. Think I might need to go do a little negotiating!