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<blockquote data-quote="Bagels" data-source="post: 1067584" data-attributes="member: 43436"><p>No, unions were not the cause of Hostess's problems. But they played a major role.</p><p></p><p>Hostess's biggest problem was declining sales; people were either choosing healthier foods or substituting with cheaper alternatives. In order to continue as a viable competitor, Hostess needed both to expand its product line-up and become more price-aggressive. However, its CBA made it uncompetitive and its unions were not willing to budge on this. Perhaps the real problem in this country is the imbalance of wealth (executive management vs. general labor). And yes, unions are an answer to this but until the rest of the country rallies behind this idea, we have to deal with what we have. In Hostess's situation, workers could've agreed to a new CBA that would've substantially lowered their pay and benefits (and cost jobs, no doubt) but still kept them above-average for the industry. Instead, they choose to keep their pride... and now more than 18,000 of them are out of work, likely to be competing for minimum-wage, no benefit jobs.</p><p></p><p>Hostess is an interesting parallel to UPS because Hostess's competitors use an independent contractor model, in which one purchases a route (and is responsible for purchasing & maintaining his/her vehicle, as well as uniform, insurance, accounting, equipment, etc.) and "sells" products to consumers within the route's area, collecting income from the difference between these sales and wholesale prices the driver pays. Sounds familiar?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bagels, post: 1067584, member: 43436"] No, unions were not the cause of Hostess's problems. But they played a major role. Hostess's biggest problem was declining sales; people were either choosing healthier foods or substituting with cheaper alternatives. In order to continue as a viable competitor, Hostess needed both to expand its product line-up and become more price-aggressive. However, its CBA made it uncompetitive and its unions were not willing to budge on this. Perhaps the real problem in this country is the imbalance of wealth (executive management vs. general labor). And yes, unions are an answer to this but until the rest of the country rallies behind this idea, we have to deal with what we have. In Hostess's situation, workers could've agreed to a new CBA that would've substantially lowered their pay and benefits (and cost jobs, no doubt) but still kept them above-average for the industry. Instead, they choose to keep their pride... and now more than 18,000 of them are out of work, likely to be competing for minimum-wage, no benefit jobs. Hostess is an interesting parallel to UPS because Hostess's competitors use an independent contractor model, in which one purchases a route (and is responsible for purchasing & maintaining his/her vehicle, as well as uniform, insurance, accounting, equipment, etc.) and "sells" products to consumers within the route's area, collecting income from the difference between these sales and wholesale prices the driver pays. Sounds familiar? [/QUOTE]
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