Topic: Damn, no more Twinkies!

[RushnStudies]

Go look at ebay and see all of them on sale...There are tons of them....

Now, yes. But with their reported indestructability, I can hang on to them for a while...

[mxman870]

Blizz I have been in several countries and repaired the furnaces and glass tanks of a company that used to have a plant in Huntington. O I  They pay the workers there peanuts and if language wasn't such a barrier I am sure they have little or no benefits.

I have never had a job in a plant working for them its always been as a contractor doing maintenance. Like you pointed out,,,, I have witnessed abuse of the system where the plant workers are lazy and will not perform or work. That type of attitude or logic needs fixed. I do not know the specifics of the Twinkies, King Dom workers contract dispute but you have to wonder of the logic to run over the company until they are forced to close the doors for good. No win for everyone. All though I do not get them very often,,,, I will miss those Suzy Qs.

[Banshee]

Someone will buy the rights to the name/recipe out of the bankruptcy proceeding.  This is far more about the extinction of the union contracts than the extinction of Twinkies.  (And that's a good thing in my book - you can't pay a man $50/hour to make twinkies and last very long).  Look for Twinkies to be made in China and shipped to the US.  Just like most of the manufacturing, you can thank greedy unions for the loss of the jobs.  Go ahead and blast me with negative Karma now.

Mexican company looking to buy them out.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2234822/Mexican-company-eyes-bankrupt-Hostess-Brands-Twinkies-loyalists-snatch-sweet-confections-shelves-frenzy.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

[sleeinwv]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/16/1203151/why-unions-dont-shoulder-the-blame-for-hostesss-downfall/?mobile=wt

Wow. So the CEO got a pay raise of 300% and then go ask employees to take a pay cut to help,save the company.

[TomorrowHERD]

The offer by Hostess:

The Union Gives

1) 8% pay cut in 2013
2) 3% pay raise in 2015
3) 1% pay raise in 2016

The Union Gets

1) 25% ownership of the company
2) 25% control of the Board of Directors


This was not good enough for the GREEDY unions!!!  So they cost the jobs of 5000 of their people and 13000 others who probably all wanted to keep their jobs.

[TomorrowHERD]

Hmmmm... It appears that it is big time union loving democrats that are behind this Hostess play.  The bad guys the unions are blaming are actually big time dems...

here comes the Hostess twist: because Tim Collins of Ripplewood, was a prominent Democrat, a position which allowed him to get involved in the first bankruptcy process in the first place, due to his proximity with the Teamsters' long-term heartthrob weenie Gephardt (whose consulting group just happens to also be an equity owner of Hostess). In other words, the traditional republican-cum-PE scapegoating strategy here will be a tough one to pull off since the narrative collapses when considering that it was a Democrat who rescued the firm, only to see it implode in a trainwreck that has resulted in the liquidation of a legendary brand, and 18,500 layoffs.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-16/hostess-liquidation-curious-cast-characters-twinkie-tumbles

[extragreen]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/16/1203151/why-unions-dont-shoulder-the-blame-for-hostesss-downfall/?mobile=wt

Wow. So the CEO got a pay raise of 300% and then go ask employees to take a pay cut to help,save the company.

You get it. Let's post that so it actually gets read:

"BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises. One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256."

[mxman870]

You get it. Let's post that so it actually gets read:

"BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises. One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256."

Those damn union men and women.  8)

[Greg H]

Not to get down in the weeds or anything. 

What you have here, and in many instances, is corruption on both ends.  First, you have unions that expect a man with a high school education and no real skills to make $30-$40 per hour for monkey work.  That's ridiculous.  As much as it may piss off a lot of people on here, that kind of work is not worth that kind of money.  Sorry guys.  If you want to make that kind of money, you have to have real skills (or extort the money via a union).

Secondly, the entire United States has a problem with corporate governance...meaning, the way corporations govern themselves.  Too often, in fact most of the time, CEO's and Boards of Directors (who ostensibly make the decisions) are wayyyy to cozy, always to the detriment of the shareholder - who sees HIS MONEY pissed away on lavish compensation packages for usually incompetent executives.  Instead of serving the shareholders by making long term profits, providing dividends and ensuring long terms gains in the value of the company and brand, the CEO and the board worry about one thing: short term gains and short term stock increases.  Why?  Because, in theory, that justifies their ridiculously inflated compensation packages (or forms the basis of them).  They hang around for a few years, pick up massive salaries and options, frontload the profits and bail the hell out before the whole house of cards collapses (and Hostess is a classic example).  Though it's more complicated than union greed, and a lot more complicated than the union greed, it's basically the same.  It's just that they are self-dealing, rather than using union goon extortion tactics (which is the only way a union thrives). 

Let's face it, it does not take millions of dollars to find an effective executive that can run a damned bakery.  Uneducated immigrants did it, albeit on a smaller scale, for hundreds of years.  I know dozens of people who could effectively serve as CEO of Hostess...and you could get any of them for less than $500,000 per year.  But hey, lets continue playing the "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" game while the whole damned country burns. 

Not sure the solution.  But it starts with basic morality.  It starts with refusing to steal from your fellow man (and yes, that's what these CEO's, Boards and Unions do).  It then has to move on to STATE corporate governance laws limiting the ability of CEO's and Boards to engage in the self-dealing, laws which courts have dilluted for many, many years.  On the other side, there should be "right to work" laws in every state.  Compulsory unionization (and the government force inherent in same) is unamerican and shameful. 

Many said that Obama's re-election was the triumph of the entitlement, gimme or welfare class, and they were right.  Well this kind of garbage is no different, whether it is the executive that is so mentally defective to think that running Hostess entitles him to millions per year, or the Union Goon that thinks he's entitled to $40 per hour for monkey work.   

Rant over.  Wow...now I'm pissed!

[sleeinwv]

You get it. Let's post that so it actually gets read:

"BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises. One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256."

And they were also wanting the workers to take a pay cut and a cut in their pensions.  All the while they were giving themselves a raise....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sleeinwv]

Not to get down in the weeds or anything. 

What you have here, and in many instances, is corruption on both ends.  First, you have unions that expect a man with a high school education and no real skills to make $30-$40 per hour for monkey work.  That's ridiculous.  As much as it may piss off a lot of people on here, that kind of work is not worth that kind of money.  Sorry guys.  If you want to make that kind of money, you have to have real skills (or extort the money via a union).

Secondly, the entire United States has a problem with corporate governance...meaning, the way corporations govern themselves.  Too often, in fact most of the time, CEO's and Boards of Directors (who ostensibly make the decisions) are wayyyy to cozy, always to the detriment of the shareholder - who sees HIS MONEY pissed away on lavish compensation packages for usually incompetent executives.  Instead of serving the shareholders by making long term profits, providing dividends and ensuring long terms gains in the value of the company and brand, the CEO and the board worry about one thing: short term gains and short term stock increases.  Why?  Because, in theory, that justifies their ridiculously inflated compensation packages (or forms the basis of them).  They hang around for a few years, pick up massive salaries and options, frontload the profits and bail the hell out before the whole house of cards collapses (and Hostess is a classic example).  Though it's more complicated than union greed, and a lot more complicated than the union greed, it's basically the same.  It's just that they are self-dealing, rather than using union goon extortion tactics (which is the only way a union thrives). 

Let's face it, it does not take millions of dollars to find an effective executive that can run a damned bakery.  Uneducated immigrants did it, albeit on a smaller scale, for hundreds of years.  I know dozens of people who could effectively serve as CEO of Hostess...and you could get any of them for less than $500,000 per year.  But hey, lets continue playing the "you scratch my back, I scratch yours" game while the whole damned country burns. 

Not sure the solution.  But it starts with basic morality.  It starts with refusing to steal from your fellow man (and yes, that's what these CEO's, Boards and Unions do).  It then has to move on to STATE corporate governance laws limiting the ability of CEO's and Boards to engage in the self-dealing, laws which courts have dilluted for many, many years.  On the other side, there should be "right to work" laws in every state.  Compulsory unionization (and the government force inherent in same) is unamerican and shameful. 

Many said that Obama's re-election was the triumph of the entitlement, gimme or welfare class, and they were right.  Well this kind of garbage is no different, whether it is the executive that is so mentally defective to think that running Hostess entitles him to millions per year, or the Union Goon that thinks he's entitled to $40 per hour for monkey work.   

Rant over.  Wow...now I'm pissed!

I wish I was a monkey so
I could make $40 an hour.  Lol. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[clovenhoof]

Maybe school teachers need to form an "actual" union. Not to slam my neighbor, but he has a HS education, no college or technical training, makes almost twice as much as me refilling tankers at a refinery. My eight years of college and endless professional development, doesn't mean much in terms of dollars. I knew this in the beginning and still choose to teach, but it is irritating when he buys the new boat I can't afford. Yes, I do work the entire year with no summers off.

[wasbarryb]

Not to get down in the weeds or anything. 

  First, you have unions that expect a man with a high school education and no real skills to make $30-$40 per hour for monkey work. .............

   But it starts with basic morality.  It starts with refusing to steal from your fellow man

It takes a lot of d@mn gall for a hundreds of dollars per hour lawyer to post hypothetical crap like that. 

[Greg H]

Hundreds per hour?  You obviously have no idea what you're talking about.  Very few lawyers make over $200 per hour, especically in the southeast, and that's only for the billed time.  Most make less than $150.  Hell, district attorneys and other public types usually make well under $100.  Ambulance chasers, many of them, make alot, but that's not my bag. 

You might also look up the word "overhead" in a dicationary, and while you're at it, check into the cost of a legal education anywhere but WVU.  By the time you do the math, you might realize that us "wealthy" lawyers are really just working guys, albeit making about what the top foreman might make in a mid-sized factory.  Admittedly, I make less in insurance defense than many, but that's my choice of work. 

There is nothing hypothetical about what I stated.  I see it every day in the payroll records of people "injured" on the job and trying to get on the workers' compensation dole (about 1/2 of which are total frauds looking to retire for free).  These guys do damned well, many of them, and this is a right to work state. 

So spare me the class hatred b.s., at least until you understand the nature of the class you hoist up for public hatred.

[mxman870]

So Greg H what do you deem a fair wage for the "monkey" that could not afford a quality education that you seem to have enjoyed?  And the $30-40 figure you toss out,,, is that the total package with the "monkeys" health and welfare along with his retirement package included? Or do you think we should simply let the corporations work the poor monkey until he dies and then turn around and do the same to his offspring because we underpaid the first monkey to keep him and his family down beneath us?

[wasbarryb]

Hundreds per hour?  You obviously have no idea what you're talking about.  Very few lawyers make over $200 per hour, especically in the southeast, and that's only for the billed time.  Most make less than $150.  Hell, district attorneys and other public types usually make well under $100.  Ambulance chasers, many of them, make alot, but that's not my bag. 

You might also look up the word "overhead" in a dicationary, and while you're at it, check into the cost of a legal education anywhere but WVU.  By the time you do the math, you might realize that us "wealthy" lawyers are really just working guys, albeit making about what the top foreman might make in a mid-sized factory.  Admittedly, I make less in insurance defense than many, but that's my choice of work. 

There is nothing hypothetical about what I stated.  I see it every day in the payroll records of people "injured" on the job and trying to get on the workers' compensation dole (about 1/2 of which are total frauds looking to retire for free).  These guys do damned well, many of them, and this is a right to work state. 

So spare me the class hatred b.s., at least until you understand the nature of the class you hoist up for public hatred.

First YOU really need to look up the word overhead. Overhead is the daily cost of doing business. Your education costs are not an ongoing cost of business. I would expect a competent attorney to know this.

Second you refer to your hourly rate. What you leave out is the very real fact lawyers bill in full hours. A five minute phone call on behalf of a client gets billed. For an attorney to bill more than 24 hours per day is not unknown.

What do workers comp claims have to do with the hourly rates of lawyers or bakery workers is beyond me, but I’m not a genius lawyer. It’s a totally unrelated issue. A good lawyer would understand this.

To accuse me of class hatred after referring to out of work people as “monkeys”? You clearly feel entitled, like most lawyers, and resent anyone other than yourself earning a decent living. Bakery workers are on their feet all day lifting heavy loads in a hot environment around dangerous machinery that can maime or kill them. Lawyers get out of their Mercedes to work in an air conditioned office sitting on their arse thinking they’re better than others.

[Greg H]

Good moving this topic here.

I don't give a %^&* about fair.  There is no fair in life.  If you think there is, or every could be, you're delusional.  If you're working at factory X, for $20 per hour and no benefits, and you think it's too little, go elsewhere.  If factory X is paying you $40 and thinks its too much, then let them find someone cheaper, whether it be in China or Virginia.  The reality is, if you live in a place like....I don't know, Delbarton, WV, and you have a HS diploma, and you're not willing to travel or go underground, you're probably worth less than $15.00 per hour.  But if you live in the Dakota oil fields, where there is a shortage of labor, you're probably worth $30 or more, many times a LOT more.  Here's a tip for the guy from Delbarton....move your butt to Dakota where there are jobs.  And get off welfare and out of my pocket.  

I couldn't afford the education any more than the typical guy from Milton could.  But I joined the Army, I got the GI Bill to pay for Marshall, and then I borrowed every penny for law school (and I'll pay it back till age 65).  There's nothing stopping any other jerk from Milton (like me) from doing that.  I just had more initiative than most.

I don't think I called anyone a monkey.  If I did, I apologize and didn't mean it.  I think I said "monkey work."  And let's be honest, a lot of these jobs are the type of work you could train a monkey to perform.  If that's offensive to anyone, sorry, find a new job that a monkey can't do.

A corporation owes an employee NOTHING other than the agreed wages/benefits, whether it's $8 per hour or $80.  If it's not enough to live, then tough %^&*, the employee can move on to another job, if his union hasn't chased them all out of town.  Likewise, if the company thinks an employee is indispensalbe, they can pay him more or risk losing him (and by God, that does not mean they shoudld be allowed to go out and hire a dirty illegal mexican to do it cheaper - that IS unfair exploitation of the AMERICAN employees).  The company damned sure doesn't owe the employee's family anything, unless they've agreed to pay it in advance.  It's not up to a corporation to "keep you down" or lift you up; that's your responsibility.  In "fairness," the government allowing the illegal immigration and heaping all the workplace regulations on employers makes it much harder for the laborer type...and I feel for them/you on that.  That has to stop.

$30-40 is the total package.  I've never done a spreadsheet, but in NC, the typical manufacturing job seems to pay about $20-$25 per hour, mid-career.  Most new guys will make about $17 or so, older guys will make closer to $30...and then there are the benefits.  That's pretty generous, starting at $34,000 per year and finishing at $60,000, plus benefits, without overtime, all with basically no education, no student debt, no time invested in the process of getting qualified for the job.  I hardly think that's "keeping the working man down."  %^&*, probably 1/2 the lawyers in this state make less than $60K per year.  

[Greg H]

I never said my education costs were overhead.  Learn to read.  Billing in full hours is unheard of in the legal profession, especially among lawyers who are paid by corporations and insurance companies (sophisticated clients).   Most are paid in 1/10th hour increments.  Some, like divorce or criminal guys bill in 1/4ths.  I don't know ANYONE who bills by the full hour, and especially not for a 5 minute call.  I've never billed over 24 hours in a day.  I don't know anyone that has.  That's an instant ticket to disbarrment. 

Work comp is based upon a person's wages...so I see, up close, what a wide variety of people make on a daily basis.  To explain the reference.

And spare me the whining about hot environments and machinery.  Nobody in that factory is compelled to be there.  They can leave.  They can go to college/law school if they want.  As a young man I worked about the the hottest, hardest job imaginable with Uncle Sam for quite a few years.  I gave up a lot of my youth, and a significant part of my physical well being to that career.  So did my brother.  We now "sit on our (@/:;" in air conditioned offices because we chose to take the initiative to better ourselves.  And honestly, to get the hell inside where it's not 100 degrees.  If some guy in a factory didn't, then that's his problem.  He had that choice.

[wasbarryb]

I never said my education costs were overhead.  Learn to read.

The following is a quote of what you wrote:

You might also look up the word "overhead" in a dicationary, and while you're at it, check into the cost of a legal education anywhere but WVU.

In one single sentence you advised me to look up the word overhead and referred to cost of legal education. If you weren’t equating the two, what were you saying? Rather than arrogantly telling me to learn to read, I suggest you learn to write. A competent lawyer would be able to write better than you.

If you’re jealous of people doing physical labor earning as much as your royally entitled lawyer arse, look in the mirror and realize it’s your failure to rise to the height of your profession.

[Greg H]

The following is a quote of what you wrote:
In one single sentence you advised me to look up the word overhead and referred to cost of legal education. If you weren’t equating the two, what were you saying? Rather than arrogantly telling me to learn to read, I suggest you learn to write. A competent lawyer would be able to write better than you.

If you’re jealous of people doing physical labor earning as much as your royally entitled lawyer arse, look in the mirror and realize it’s your failure to rise to the height of your profession.

", and while you're at it,"  Did you read that part?  Nice try. 

And who said that "people doing physical labor" are earning what I earn?  I didn't.  Go read what I said more carefully.  I doubt very seriously that's true of anyone but the highest foreman in the largest shops (or maybe some older coal miners doing overtime).  And, to be honest, I'm only 6.5 years out of law school, so it's a temporary thing. 

There is no jealosy here.  My point of contention is with people who piss and moan that "corporations" "keep them down."  It's not corporations "keeping you down."  Most of the time, the person who bitches about that has done little or nothing to advance themselves.  They did not pursue education or training other than what the State forced them to complete in High School.  They never went to college, even though, if they grew up anywhere near the Tri-State Area is was available, easy to get in, cheap and easy to graduate.  Of course, that's true in most places (or at least it was until very recently)  Most of them never saved up to start their own business, so they could "oppress" their "workers" (a commie word if ever there was one). 

No, to the contrary.  Most of the people who sit around and bitch about how the "corporations" are f*cking them haven't done %^&* with their lives.  They would rather throw around insults like "royally entitled lawyer arse" at those of us who actually did.  Sorry, but I'm going to call the lazy and the stupid out for their laziness and their stupidity the minute I hear them bitching about how someone else is responsible for their sorry lot in life.

If you really think I feel "royally entitled," maybe you should figure out who I am first...and then ask around to the few people on this board that actually know me.  I think you'll find that's not the case.  Better yet, how about addressing your criticism to what I say, rather than who you wrongly think I am. 

[phillyherdfan]

This was the plan when private equity took them over many years ago.  Like so many "major brands" they simply file for bankruptcy, get debt forgiveness on the outstanding debt from the courts, gut the company, make bilions on the restructure, make deals with the unions that no one would concede to, blame it on the unions, sell the brands at a massive profit then walk away.  Rinse and repeat.

The US business landscape is littered with the old faithfuls gutted by private equity.

[wasbarryb]

If you really think I feel "royally entitled," maybe you should figure out who I am first...and then ask around to the few people on this board that actually know me.  I think you'll find that's not the case.  Better yet, how about addressing your criticism to what I say, rather than who you wrongly think I am. 

What you write and how you write tell me who you are. I have no doubts about your delusional belief in your superiority to the members of this board.

[mxman870]

GH,,, I think it may safe to assume you are referring to me with the comments about keeping them down. Since you are so good about reading comprehension you probably already know I was making a point about how things would be if left up to the corporate execs to set the wage and benefit package for the workers. You know the monkey work you seem to know so much about. I have never saw a monkey run a crane,,,,bulldozer,,,backhoe,,,fit and weld pipe professionally,,,wire a plant,,,build forms and pour concrete,,,climb steel and connect beams,,,install heating and AC,,,I could roll on forever with these SKILLED TRADES.
Where do you find those monkeys you speak so highly of.

I am a skilled tradesman (proud union man for 35 years) and trust me I have most definitely set foot in more foreign countries then you ever will in your lifetime. I earn a very good wage and trust me,,,, whatever I get paid my company is very happy to compensate me for what I have made for them. So don`t try and say I am stupid and lazy and jealous of what you have accomplished. "My main point of contention" are the ignorant ,,,jealous ,,,don't have a clue about what I do to make a good life for my family (I put all three children through college) and just because I am a union tradesman they spout off about all union men and women.  I am glad you were able to put yourself through school and help yourself to what you consider an honest profession. I have no clue to what type of work you performed out of the military. Trust me,,,,you have no clue to what it is to work in a truly hot environment. You sir would not last a day trying to hang with a 58 year old real working man.

[Greg H]

This was the plan when private equity took them over many years ago.  Like so many "major brands" they simply file for bankruptcy, get debt forgiveness on the outstanding debt from the courts, gut the company, make bilions on the restructure, make deals with the unions that no one would concede to, blame it on the unions, sell the brands at a massive profit then walk away.  Rinse and repeat.

The US business landscape is littered with the old faithfuls gutted by private equity.

Let's assume that is all true (because most of it is).  So what?  If "private equity" bought the company with that intention...don't they own the company, even if they are leveraged 10000/1 to do it?  Isn't it theirs to sell?  Sucks ass if you're sweeping a floor somewhere (or if you're one of their lawyers), but isn't that the reality?  And, shouldn't it be?  Or are we to start telling other people whether and how they can sell their own property?

[Greg H]

GH,,, I think it may safe to assume you are referring to me with the comments about keeping them down. Since you are so good about reading comprehension you probably already know I was making a point about how things would be if left up to the corporate execs to set the wage and benefit package for the workers. You know the monkey work you seem to know so much about. I have never saw a monkey run a crane,,,,bulldozer,,,backhoe,,,fit and weld pipe professionally,,,wire a plant,,,build forms and pour concrete,,,climb steel and connect beams,,,install heating and AC,,,I could roll on forever with these SKILLED TRADES.
Where do you find those monkeys you speak so highly of.

I am a skilled tradesman (proud union man for 35 years) and trust me I have most definitely set foot in more foreign countries then you ever will in your lifetime. I earn a very good wage and trust me,,,, whatever I get paid my company is very happy to compensate me for what I have made for them. So don`t try and say I am stupid and lazy and jealous of what you have accomplished. "My main point of contention" are the ignorant ,,,jealous ,,,don't have a clue about what I do to make a good life for my family (I put all three children through college) and just because I am a union tradesman they spout off about all union men and women.  I am glad you were able to put yourself through school and help yourself to what you consider an honest profession. I have no clue to what type of work you performed out of the military. Trust me,,,,you have no clue to what it is to work in a truly hot environment. You sir would not last a day trying to hang with a 58 year old real working man.

Really, I didn't pay attention to who made the comment.  The Comment was my issue, not the person behind it.  Nobody is "keeping anybody down" when a company and an employee "negotiate" wages without a union involving itself.  It's not like the company imposes a wage on someone and they just slave on forever, having no choice in the matter.  That is a cowards way of looking at it.   A job is a voluntary thing.  Quit if you think you're getting ripped off.

And since you're talking trash about whether or not I could keep up with you, at age 58, who knows.  So who care if I couldn't?  I don't have to.  So, I guess I'm not a "real working man" like you.  I guess I'm just an overeducated p*ssie, because I don't sweat my ass off and risk injury and death every day?  Or maybe I was smart enough to recognize as a young man that there was another way.  Maybe, unlike yourself, I was actually smart and resourceful enough to take that other way?

So, you infer that I'm a p*ussie with the "real workin' man" comment.  Or whatever that was meant to say.  That's fine.  I don't know you (as far as I know).  I'll continue with my assumption that you're basically an overpaid chimpanzee who, through VERY little training and a lot of repetition, has gotten good at performing a menial task over and over and over, droning on in your pathetic existence.  Or, at least that you DID do that, before you started taking advantage of an overly generous pension that you didn't earn.  You go on assuming that I am whatever you think I am, crooked I guess. 

Or...we can just assume that "monkey work" was a figure of speech, much like crooked lawyer is, that no offense was meant and that none should be taken. 

Doesn't matter to me.