HuffPo Writer Blasts Bakery Workers' Union

An interesting piece appeared on Huffington Post today about the ongoing saga of the soon-to-be-unemployed former Stella D'Oro strikers.

What makes this post interesting is the fact that it is openly critical of all the parties: the company (which is to be expected from a HuffPo writer) but the union and the workers as well got blasted in the opening paragraph:

I'm disgusted with everybody involved in the Stella D'Oro fiasco. No one gets a gold star (stella d'oro) unless it's for incompetence. The union negotiators gang planked the 136 workers in their care right into a watery grave.

Later, the author of the piece, Dan Silverstein, writes:

Stella D'Oro's collapse was a battle of midgets, and it didn't have to happen. Each side overplayed its hand.

Standing in their [the company's] way was an activist work force that felt entitled, and who became incensed when management tried to impose a plan for renewal that contradicted the evolution of nest feathering previous owners had tolerated. The union representatives were particularly outraged by the introduction of a restructured pay scale in which new workers would no longer be paid almost as much as seasoned workers. In that, they were wildly
successful; now everyone is paid exactly the same.

And, later:

But, the mind-numbing arrogance of the negotiators for the Bakery Workers Union Local 50 is particularly disturbing because it sealed the fate of the workers whose jobs they were supposed to be protecting. Obviously they thought they could arm wrestle management into caving in. What a mistake.

As stated earlier, this is a surprisingly remarkable statement to be posted on HuffPo.

To read some background to this story, go to 1-888-NO-UNION.COM's blogpost "No Contract, No Cookies...and No Job!"

Read the entire piece: Stella D'Oro's No-Win Solution

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