Fox & Friends is considered a Fox "opinion" show that is absolved from being "fair & balanced." So you can understand why Fox "friend," Peter Johnson Jr., would interview an anti-union activist to blame unions for the demise of the Hostess Brands. But given that "America Live" show is supposed to be "real news, fair & balanced," you'd expect that a discussion of the Hostess situation would be done in a fair & balanced way which might include a spokesperson for the union rather than a right wing Fox hack. Actually, I'm being facetious because, given the partisan bias of Megyn Kelly, what you would expect is pure partisan hackery which is what was advanced on Monday's show during which the ever objective (hahahahaha) Lou Dobbs, during a discussion of the Twinkies company passing, blamed the baker's union. And in what was an unexpected treat, Ms. Kelly compared herself to the black & white cookie. True story.
Megyn Kelly reported that the company would be closing operations after a union protest. She cited the union claim that the company has engaged in "Bain style tactics" and, in tossing the patently scripted softball to Dobbs (wearing his great, big American flag pin cuz he's such a great, big patriot), asked if the union was correct or whether it was "union demands." On cue, Dobbs started trashing the bakers union "who are taking no responsibility for their own economic fate" and "are wiping out the jobs single-handily by their act." He described it as "the height of irresponsibility."
Kelly asked if the union members "believed the company when the company said we're telling you we're going to file for bankruptcy if you don't back off these demands, you few thousands are going to cost the jobs of 18 plus thousand if you don't back off this demand." She didn't mention that the company had filed for bankruptcy twice in the past eight years because of slow sales and high costs as well as worker benefits. She didn't mention that the unions had made concessions to management.
This provided Dobbs with his cue to further trash the baker's union as irresponsible. Kelly provided him with further ammunition with her question about whether unions are still relevant. Not surprisingly, he responded that labor actions aren't helping them despite Richard Trumka's "bluster" and President Obama's "boosting" of the unions. After Kelly quoted Trumka's contention that Hostess was the victim of "Bain style Wall Street vultures," Dobbs accused Trumka of "bloviating" and the striking union of "destroying the livelihood and economic freedom of fellow union workers." While he praised the Teamsters for being reasonable, he said that the baker's unions are "out of their minds."
Kelly then informed Dobbs that, "in honor of this segment," she dressed as a black and white cookie because of lighting that was making her arms look black. Her voice dripped with snark as she said that they "haven't quite worked out the lighting." Dobbs thought it was "elegant." She continued the snark about her "shadow dancing." (Wouldn't have wanted to be on Kelly's production crew after that segment!)
Not mentioned was the fact that Hostess executives got pay hikes of over 80% while workers were taking pay cuts. Not mentioned was the fact that the CEO got a 300% raise from 750,000 to $2,500,000. Not mentioned is the fact that 19 Hostess executives (including the aforementioned CEO) will get $1.75 million in bonuses as part of the bankruptcy.
Fox "real" news - really "fair & balanced." Ya think!
What’s already happened among people of working class origin is (IMO) similar to what’s happening with regard to immigration, where opinion leaders from formerly maligned categories (e.g. Bill O’Reilly and Bernie Goldberg) are among the most vocal opponents to immigration by “new” categories. Like them, there are people who claim to be of working class origin who deny that it was thanks to the strength through unity assured by the unions that their families were able to attain middle-class status: buy a car and a house, appliances, and have a bit left over for “extras” like higher education for the kids.
It’s dismayingly discouraging to listen to such people pontificate as though they were born to their current status or had somehow gotten there completely and entirely on their own.
Instead, they settled with the truckers, and almost immediately moved to get a court’s permission to shut down the operation. I have a pretty heavy suspicion that the whole thing was premeditated to create a scapegoat, as well.
When Hostess basically admitted that they were closing to avoid the bakers, that’s when I lost any and all compassion I had for them. In it’s best light, it reeked of a prepared stance to give Fox News when the facts got out and they were the only shoulder that hadn’t gone cold.
’merkins godda learn ta work fer Chinese wages if us millionaires are gonna get a better ROT, err, ROI!
The reality is that Hostess has been terribly managed for around 20 years. The CEOs made terrible decisions during the 1990s, overexpanding far beyond their ability to sustain themselves, and then compounded them with a ruinous decision to buy back their over-priced stock around 2000. This was followed by a revolving door of changing CEOs during the 2000s, a bankruptcy in 2004, and repeated assurances by the changing management and ownership of the company that this time they would handle things correctly.
In 2004, the Bakers Union agreed to drastic cuts in their compensation and benefits equalling 110 million dollars, given that the company was in its first bankruptcy then and was promising to upgrade their equipment and do the right things to stay alive. Instead, they slashed half their payroll at that time and continued to use the outmoded machinery while throwing lavish salary packages and bonuses at the revolving door of executives and CEOs.
With the current bankruptcy, the current management realized they were going down and decided to try to squeeze a little more blood out of the stone on the way out. The Bakers realized what was happening and made the honorable decision that enough is enough. The response by management was both childish and possibly pre-meditated. If I didn’t know better, they knew they were going to have to close anyway and wanted to find someone else to blame other than themselves.
There is precedent for this kind of chicanery. In 2009, the Stella D’Oro Biscuit Company closed its doors as a petulant response to losing a strike when it tried to inflict deep pay and benefit cuts on its employees. After a judge ordered the company’s owner to pay the back wages, etc, the owner immediately sold the company to another organization that moved everything to another state and left the workers behind. We should keep this in mind when people try to blame the employees for the bad intentions of the people who actually hold the purse strings.
