Moe Lane

Very possibly.  Background here and here: the short version is that Hostess Foods is in horrible financial shape; it’s in the process of trying to stave off bankruptcy via drastically renegotiated emergency union contracts with the Teamsters and bakers’ unions; the Teamsters took a look at the books, blanched, swallowed hard, and took the deal; the bakers’ unions did not, and decided to go on strike; and Hostess basically told the strikers that if they didn’t stop striking by end of business today that the company would just go ahead and shut down.  The end of business came and went; and now we’re going to see whether Hostess will go through with their promise/threat.

And how serious is this threat? This serious:

The Teamsters meanwhile are urging the smaller union to hold a secret ballot on whether to continue striking. Citing its financial experts who had access to the company’s books, the Teamsters say that Hostess’ warning of liquidation is “not an empty threat or a negotiating tactic” but a certain outcome if workers continue striking.

(more…)

Union solidarity is a myth.

David Freddoso has the details: essentially, the Teamsters and the UFCW are at cross-purposes when it comes to the Giant supermarket chain here in DC.  The Teamsters are angry at Giant because Giant parent company Royal Ahold is closing a Teamsters-controlled facility in Jessup, Maryland, in favor of a non-union one in Pennsylvania*.  This will be happening, and the real question is whether Royal Ahold will start the process with another Teamster-controlled Jessup facility.  As Freddoso mentioned, part of the Teamster’s push-back on this involves directly attacking the Giant supermarket chain’s reputation… which if successful will of course adversely affect the UFCW’s own workers. (more…)

There’s just something special about seeing a would-be member of the modern Left’s Sturmabteilung shove around a counter-protester while screaming about ‘fascists.’  I assume that’s why the report is that this is a MoveOn.org guy: that sort of behavior is precisely the sort of room-temperature IQ maneuver that you’d expect from that crowd.

Note that the counter-protester got shoved twice; also note that Mr. Brownshirt was fully decked out in his gang leathers Teamster jacket in the process.  Hey, why don’t you sing “Look for the Union Label” next time you commit assault for the cameras?  That should really bring the message home that you’re operating under the sanction of your union.

Via @brooksbayne.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: I fully expect this kind of situation to escalate until somebody’s dead or seriously injured.  And I expect that to happen because the union goons that Dick Trumka is currently winding up and setting loose don’t understand that cameras are everywhere now, and that threats of violence and/or acts of intimidation are not going to be sufficient this time.  So the unions will get more violent, and it will get caught on tape, and that’s when things will get truly ugly.

So now would be a good time for the union leadership to start walking back from all of this.  They won’t, because the union leadership has a collective mental map of the political landscape that’s twenty years out of date, but they should.