The great Wal-Mart fizzled strike has been in the news these past two days, but Wal-Mart reported record sales, unions had to bus strikers in and very few that were actually scheduled to work on Thanksgiving, joined in.
Not much damage, so let's start with the case of Hostess Brands, the damage wasn't just a company forced to close and liquidate, but of 15,000 workers now jobless as Christmas nears. That number will rise to 18,000 within months.
Quick background:
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain Wednesday approved Hostess’s request to close at a hearing in White Plains, New York. Chief Executive Officer Gregory Rayburn said 15,000 workers will be fired Wednesday so they can start receiving unemployment benefits.
Hostess told the court it expects to keep about 3,200 workers to help shut its properties and prepare them for sale, but that only approximately 200 people would remain employed by late March.
[...]
The judge overseeing the company’s bankruptcy said Wednesday that Hostess must return to a “liquidation scenario” after mediation with its bakers’ union failed to avert a shutdown that would eliminate more than 18,000 jobs.
Hostess decided to liquidate on Nov. 16, saying it was losing about US$1 million per day after the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, representing close to one-third of its roughly 18,000 workers, went on strike a week earlier.
The bakers union walked out after Drain authorized Hostess to impose pay and benefit cuts, which the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Hostess’ largest union, had accepted.
Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, is asking the judge for approval to shut down 36 bakeries, 242 depots, 216 retail stores, and 311 hybrid depot-store facilities, according to court filings. There are 58 other leased or owned sites used for storage, warehousing of products or parking. The plants are in 22 states, stretching from Alaska to New Jersey.
Due to the decision of union leaders, on behalf of their members which pay union dues every month, 15,000 workers, two-thirds of them not members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, will have to scramble for a job, receive unemployment benefits if they qualify, which probably won't do much for them in time for Christmas, and won't pull in as much as they were making while working at Hostess.
The union leaders that caused this will not be suffering, in fact if you look at the salaries of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union leaders, you will see the top 31 make more than $75,000 a year and the top ten make between $161,789 and $262,654 of total compensation, meaning gross salary and other benefits and compensation together.
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| Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, leaders/salaries via Union Facts. |
SEE- All employees compensation and salary history
So, people making over $150,000- 200,000 made decisions that now have 15,000 people making zero, right before Christmas.
Yet unions claim they are protecting workers?
Moving on to the Wal-Mart issue.
Over at Twitchy, they show some tweets from Peter Suderman, senior editor at Reason magazine, about the lefts irrational hatred of Wal-Mart, but it was a response from Matt Yglesias that gets to the heart of the issue, showing none of this is about what is best for employees and more about the left's true argument, which is class warfare.
Sounds pretty good! RT @petersuderman: 8. Erase the entire Walton family fortune and you get an average $1/hour boost to Walmart workers.
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 24, 2012
Here is another example from Twitter user @WalkoutOnWalmart
FACT: Walmart's owners have as much wealth as the bottom 41.5% of Americans combined. bit.ly/OEdSXh #WalkoutOnWalmart
— Walkout On Walmart!! (@WalmartStrikers) November 23, 2012
There you have it, the bottom line, Wal-Mart owners are rich.
As a technical point, in 2011 six members of the Walton family had the same net worth as the bottom 30% of American families combined. So much for @WalkoutOnWalmart's so called "FACT."
Yes, they are rich, and they are rich because Bud and Sam Walton founded the world's largest retail store Wal-Mart. It is a family owned business and they employ over two million workers.
They are called job creators.
Here is a real fact for the leftists attacking Wal-Mart, if the Waltons and decision makers at Wal-Mart decided to simply close the stores, kick back and enjoy their riches, two million people would be jobless immediately.
Wal-Mart doesn't force anyone to work for them, they accept job applications, hire those that applied and pay them the compensation that was offered at the interview, like every other free market business.
The Waltons and Wal-Mart are attacked by liberals for one reason, they are the American dream of free market success and they are reaping the rewards financially.
The Walton family built that...................... and they deserve those rewards