**UPDATE Union Declares Victory As Hostess Goes Out of Business. No more Ho Hos. ****
Unions destroy themselves like pathetic drunks, dragging down everyone around them.
In a fine example of anti-strategic thinking and un-game theory, the Bakers Union put 637 of its members out of work yesterday.
Hostess—makers of Twinkies—is bankrupt. Part of the bankruptcy involved rewriting union contracts to allow the company to stay in business.
Instead of taking one for the team and helping their company crawl out of its fiscal hole, the Bakers went on strike. Here’s one of the geniuses in his own words:
We’re fighting for our pensions, we’re fighting for health care, we’re fighting for our wages, we’re fighting for our way of life, (Source: Philly.com)
So sayeth Barry Fields, president and business manager of Local 6.
**So your “way of life” is unemployment? **
The strike forced Hostess to shut down bakeries in St. Louis, Seattle, and Cincinnati, adding 365 St. Louis bakers to the burgeoning unemployment rosters.
I’ll bet Barry the union business manger isn’t losing his job, is he? He gets to go into work tomorrow and collect his paycheck like every other day—a paycheck funded by the very men and women the union bosses just dumped in the street.
Teamsters accepted Hostess’s renegotiated contract. The Teamsters apparently want their jobs. I guess the Bakers would rather live off the fat of their neighbors.
The corrupt union bosses now are screaming foul, of course. They say it’s not their fault that 637 of their rank and file are unemployed.
Horseshit!
Look at union membership in the the United States in the past 30 years. It’s fallen in half! From 23% in 1980 to 12.4% today. The union is disappearing, union wages are falling. Workers are leaving unions for the same reason that families leave drunks.
You know, these union bosses just re-elected Barack Obama. Maybe they figured Uncle Barry (the President, not the union business manager) will support their cast-offs now. Give them some of that cradle-to-grave government love Obama voters want.
The Hostess layoffs are just one of 14 US layoffs announced today—one week after Obama’s election to a second term. Here’s the whole list, complements of DailJobCuts.com:
* [Xerox Corp. - 2,500](https://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20121113/BUSINESS/311130035/Xerox?odyssey=nav|head)
* [Citigroup Inc. - 100 in Long Island NY](https://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-13/citigroup-discloses-dismissal-of-100-workers-on-long-island)
* [Atlantic City's Casinos - Workers Face Layoffs After Sandy](https://www.nbc40.net/story/20086169/atlantic-city-casino-workers-facing-layoffs-in-sandys-aftermath)
* [Glens Falls Hospital NY - 29](https://poststar.com/news/local/glens-falls-hospital-announces-layoff/article_f1cc6970-2da6-11e2-8784-0019bb2963f4.html)
* [Bayou Cane Louisiana - 7 FD Layoffs Likely](https://www.dailycomet.com/article/20121113/ARTICLES/121119896?tc=ar)
* [San Diego Hospice - Possible Violations may = Layoffs](https://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/San-Diego-Hospice-Faces-Lay-Offs-After-Possible-Medicare-Violation-179133191.html)
* [Publishing Firm Lulu in Raleigh - 9 ](https://wraltechwire.com/sel-publishing-firm-lulu-makes-job-cuts-in-raleigh/11767146/)
* I[ron Range nonprofit Minn. - Layoffs Pending](https://www.jamestownsun.com/event/article/id/173444/group/News/)
* [Hostess - 3 Plant Closing = 627 Jobs Lost](https://www.philly.com/philly/business/20121113_Hostess_closings_to_cut_627_jobs.html)
* [Hamilton FD Ohio - Possible 2 Closing - 17 Layoffs](https://www.journal-news.com/news/news/fire-study-close-2-fire-houses-cut-175-jobs/nS49L/)
* [NBCUniversal - 500](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-nbcuniversal-cuts-500-employees-20121112,0,2586218.story)
* [Dana Corporation - Warns Employees of Poss. Layoffs](https://www.13abc.com/story/20075240/dana-warns-employees-of-layoffs)
* [Mississippi County Arkansas - About 12 Layoffs](https://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/88622/mississippi-county-cuts-15-million-triggering-layoffs)
* [TMX Group ( International ) - Plans to Cut 100 Jobs](https://www.advisor.ca/news/industry-news/tmx-cutting-100-jobs-98391)
That’s 3,901 people (at least) tossed out today alone.
Last week, Energizer of St. Louis announced 1,500 people are losing their jobs. It never ends.
Congratulation, unions. You’ve made America the place where unemployment is better than a good union job.