@LRToday Morning Round-Up: January 31, 2013
A Different Take on the Hostess Bankruptcy: Megan McArdle of the Daily Beast published a thought-provoking piece on Tuesday regarding the recent Hostess bankruptcy. McArdle posits that the Baker's Union, derided in the press for their "unreasonably demands," has actually put together a brilliant negotiating strategy. Instead of fighting with Hostess, the Baker's Union essentially forced Hostess into bankruptcy in order to blow up the Teamsters' contract and start from scratch. Holman Jenkins of the Wall Street Journal explains the issue as follows:
Under the latest turnaround plan, the sticking point was Hostess's distribution operations, source of the Hostess horror stories filling the media. Union-imposed work rules stopped drivers from helping to load their trucks. A separate worker, arriving at the store in a separate vehicle, had to be employed to shift goods from a storage area to a retailer's shelf. Wonder Bread and Twinkies couldn't ride on the same truck.
Essentially, massive inefficiencies in the Teamsters' contract, not the Baker's contract, forced Hostess out of business. The company is currently close to selling off its Twinkie brand to an investment firm. Perhaps a new deal for the Bakers will follow. We will keep you posted.
Sen. Barrasso Moves to Kill 2012 Board Decisions: Fox News reports that Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) has introduced legislation that would effectively hit the reset button and overturn all National Labor Relations Board decisions made in the last year. Sen. Barrasso's bill comes in the wake of last week's Noel Canning ruling that held that the Board did not have enough members to constitute a quorum because President Obama's recess appointments were constitutionally unsound.
