Just found this interesting tidbit written by Michelle Malkin on the Human Events web site about some of the 2000 union groups that were granted waivers to Obamacare.Darden Restaurants, the Florida-based parent company of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Red Lobster and other chains, was a member of the Obamacare waiver early bird special. Their get-out-of-Obamacare card helped spare the company’s health insurance benefits for nearly 34,000 employees. Breathing a sigh of relief that it would allow chains to continue offering all employees access to affordable health insurance, Darden said in a statement in the fall of 2010 that “the waiver allows us to continue to do that as the various phases of the health care law are implemented.”Fast-forward to 2012. Darden announced last month that it would begin shifting full-time workers to part-time status to save money, cut health costs and circumvent Obamacare’s coverage mandate scheduled for full implementation in 2014. The move would reduce full-time employees’ hours to less than 30 hours a week; part-time workers are exempt from the insurance mandate. McDonald’s, another big Obamacare waiver recipient, is considering the same move.In fact, a survey of members of the Chain Restaurant Compensation Association (CRCA) conducted last year by Hay Group reported that a whopping 77 percent of “quick serve” restaurant operators said they were considering reducing employee hours to change their status from full-time to part-time. At least one Denny’s restaurant franchise owner in Florida is cutting hours and has openly contemplated an Obamacare surcharge. Jimmy John’s and Papa John’s are also slashing work hours. Applebee’s is mulling a freeze on both hiring and expansion.So now we begin to see the unintended consequences of Obamacare. Thousands of workers lose full-time job status and all of their benefits that went along with it. Unions have way too much power today and certainly don't do a very good job protecting their members. In no way related to the above, we now must learn to do without our Twinkies, Dolly Madison cupcakes and Ho Ho’s because the tiny bakery workers union strike has forced Hostess Brands to go out of business. Add 18,500 more jobs lost. Here is an excerpt from Fox Business:
A small union's stubbornness in contract talks with Hostess is being blamed for the shutdown of one of America's snack food icons, the loss of 18,500 jobs just before the holiday season and much-needed tax revenue from hundreds of plants and shops across the country.The national strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) that began last week decimated the 82-year-old company’s ability to produce and deliver products at roughly 12 of its 33 plants. The company announced earlier in the week that the ax would fall on Friday if the strikers didn’t get back to work, but the union didn’t blink.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/16/hostess-brands-to-liquidate-lay-off-18500-after-crippling-union-fight/#ixzz2CQVbyswh
Friday, November 16, 2012
Unintended consequences of Obamacare. Thousands of workers lose full-time status.
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