wpr
  • wpr
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11 years ago

Hostess Brands Inc, the bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said it had sought court permission to go out of business after failing to get wage and benefit cuts from thousands of its striking bakery workers.

Hostess, which has about $2.5 billion in sales from a long list of iconic consumer brands of snack cakes and breads, said it had suspended operations at all of its 33 plants around the United States as it moves to start liquidating assets.

"We'll be selling the brands and as much of the infrastructure as we can," said company spokesman Lance Ignon. "There is value in the brands."

Hostess said a strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union that began last week had crippled its ability to produce and deliver products at several facilities, and it had no choice but to give up its effort to emerge intact from bankruptcy court.

The Irving, Texas-based company said the liquidation would mean that most of its 18,500 employees would lose their jobs.



Good thing I had a twinkie earlier this year. First one in about 10-15 years. That should hold me over for the rest of my life.


This thread can easily be sidetracked into a "management vs union discussion". I am certain there was some poor decisions by management in the past 10 years. Many companies expected the boom to go on longer than it did. Some of their "decisions" were based on the belief that people actually wanted to eat the damn twinkie instead of eating healthy. And that is a tough one to overcome. There are not a lot of low cal/low fat twinkie substitutes out there. Point is the union "wins". They didn't give in to the evil and inept management's demands for a compensation package that would have allowed Hostess to become more competitive in today's market place. I suppose they can comfort themselves by telling each other they won while they sit on their butts at home or stand in the unemployment lines.
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Pack93z
11 years ago
Can't wait  for the "Twinkie" bailout talks to begin. 😶



I can't remember the last time I had one.. decades is probably accurate. Reality is, they will be purchased and continued by another firm if this pressure play fails.

But yes.. the labor wars are just beginning, with another driver being health care.
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"
Cheesey
11 years ago
I heard that one of the 2 unions did accept the deal, but that the bakers union turned it down.
Once again, a union destroys the workers they are supposed to protect. They said alot of workers crossed the picket lines, but not enough to keep the factories going.
I heard the workers were offered a 8% pay decrease, and lowering of some benefits. The thing is, had they taken it, they at least would still have jobs. If they really were not happy with the offer, they could look for other work while they still at least had an income.
The ones making the decisions (union bosses) still get their pay, so why should they care about the "little people?"
Now over 18,000 people are going to be on unemployment.
Yes, some blame should go on the guys running Hostess. I don't hold them blameless either. Obviously they screwed something up too.
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Cheesey
11 years ago
Just heard on the news that boxes of Twinkies are selling on ebay for $50!
I guess, why not? After all, with all the preservatives they will still be "good" 50 years from now, so STOCK UP![grin1]
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Zero2Cool
11 years ago
From what I heard on the radio, this sounds more like a ploy to quit the picketing bakers.
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Porforis
11 years ago

I heard that one of the 2 unions did accept the deal, but that the bakers union turned it down.
Once again, a union destroys the workers they are supposed to protect. They said alot of workers crossed the picket lines, but not enough to keep the factories going.
I heard the workers were offered a 8% pay decrease, and lowering of some benefits.

Originally Posted by: Cheesey 



With guaranteed raises to said pay, I don't remember the exact figures but it was something like the 8% decrease for a year followed by a 1% increase the following 2 years then a one-time 3% increase. And 2 union members on the board and opportunities to give employees increased ownership in the company.

I'm not saying it doesn't really, really suck to have your pay decreased like that (especially since this wasn't the first round of decreases) and that Hostess wasn't mismanaged, but you have three options here.

1. Live with $25k/year+. Not great but livable unless you have multiple kids or are the sole breadwinner with a kid.
2. Recognize that things are going downhill, start looking for better employment. Put in your two weeks when you find it, leave on good terms.
3. Go on strike, risk losing your job with no benefits (in some states). Worry about finding a job after you're fired.

Sure, the jobs were probably dead eventually anyways, but layoffs probably would have come in multiple waves giving people time to find other jobs, with preservation of money paid for unused vacation and a good reference rather than having left on bad terms.

I've worked in a factory, specifically one that baked bread, sliced it, sliced some of it further into croutons, bagged, and shipped. Back in 2006, that got me $13/hour starting, non-union. Granted, it was only for a month but I can sympathize with those that are working in the factories-factories. Dockworkers and truckers have it easy by comparison (and tend to make more money). That being said, the grunt factory work in said industry is VERY low-skill. For an entry level position requiring not even a high school diploma, that is damnned good pay. Still sucks if you're loading 40 pound bags of croutons onto pallets all day, sweeping up breadcrumbs and dust in a hot factory, but still good pay.

I got said job after about a year of unemployment, and while it sucked I appreciated what was the best income of my life up to that point and the fact that I HAD a job. I was only there a month (ended up moving closer to my now-wife for an office job with a $4/hour pay decrease), but it gave me an appreciation for hard work and busting your ass to make ends meet. I DO have sympathy for these workers getting their pay slashed, but in the end, many of them made a poor decision given the available options. And now they're paying the consequences.
dfosterf
11 years ago
As an aside, did anyone besides me see any of the video of the Baker's union folk walking the picket line?

I don't think any of them were under 300 lbs.

The twinkie Co. may have had real inventory control issues, in addition to wage issues, lol

Ironically, in corporate-jargon, were those baker's union guys chowing down on the product, the bean counters in the co. would term that loss as "shrink".



🤣

DakotaT
11 years ago

As an aside, did anyone besides me see any of the video of the Baker's union folk walking the picket line?

I don't think any of them were under 300 lbs.

The twinkie Co. may have had real inventory control issues, in addition to wage issues, lol

Ironically, in corporate-jargon, were those baker's union guys chowing down on the product, the bean counters in the co. would term that loss as "shrink".



🤣

Originally Posted by: dfosterf 



That's some seriously funny shit, Gunny.


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zombieslayer
11 years ago

Good thing I had a twinkie earlier this year. First one in about 10-15 years. That should hold me over for the rest of my life.


This thread can easily be sidetracked into a "management vs union discussion". I am certain there was some poor decisions by management in the past 10 years. Many companies expected the boom to go on longer than it did. Some of their "decisions" were based on the belief that people actually wanted to eat the damn twinkie instead of eating healthy. And that is a tough one to overcome. There are not a lot of low cal/low fat twinkie substitutes out there. Point is the union "wins". They didn't give in to the evil and inept management's demands for a compensation package that would have allowed Hostess to become more competitive in today's market place. I suppose they can comfort themselves by telling each other they won while they sit on their butts at home or stand in the unemployment lines.

Originally Posted by: wpr 



Yeah, without even reading the comments, I foresee anti-union comments.

In reality, businesses need to adapt to change. I remember watching a pretty long interview with the CEO of McDonalds. Of all the fast food places, I gotta give credit to McD's.

The first big criticism is that they were using rainforest beef. So McD's changed their suppliers and switched to 100% American beef. Problem solved.

Then there was a big criticism of McD's waste. So McD's started using post-consumer recycled products before just about any other fast food place. Problem solved.

When the new CEO came on board, the biggest criticism of McD's was that their food will kill you. So guess what he did? He had a team work on a healthier menu and now of all the fast food places, McD's is one that offers healthy options. So if you eat unhealthy stuff at McD's, it's your fault, not McD's.

It's all about getting with the program. I don't think there's one person in this country who would say "Twinkies are actually pretty healthy and I suggest you eat 5 of them a day." We all know they're bad for you.

Adapt, or die. Or of course you can get stuck in the old ways and find someone else to blame for your failures (like Hostess and unions for instance).
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Packerchick
11 years ago
I dont really see Twinkies around where I am.

Havent had them in ages, dietary issues.
I am a woman and I love football.
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