Better git yer twinkies and ho ho's before they are gone!!

[Scootertrash]

Hostess is closing their doors:

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/16/news/companies/hostess-closing/index.html

[atc350xer]

I thought the same thing... stock up on HoHos!

[captainweezy]

I like them but i would much rather have just about any little Debbie snack over a hostess product. My favorite is the Chocodile and they took that away from the central states about 7-8 years ago.
The job loss is horrible though. Over 18,000 is hard to swallow. Its going to trickle down to employees in every town such as the drivers/vendors that stock the shelves aka the hostess man.

I'm sure our wonderful President will bail them out and pass the expenses to the tax payer.

[Big Mike]

it sucks, my uncle gave that company 27 years as a delivery driver and they closed their doors 2 weeks before he was to retire.

[sp8twn]

OK? who is going to reproduce them now??? Like anything else,,,im sure someone already thinking about it??:wondering

[kb0nly]

Heck there is already non-branded versions of all their products on the shelf, probably one thing that hurts a company like that. Go into any of the big grocery store chains and they have a store branded version of all your favorites, are they exactly the same? No... but eh close enough i guess.

Just another example of how its hurting everyone. But i am surprised to see a junk food giant die, thats all americans eat now days, well some of us. I am lucky to eat stuff like that once a week and i call it a treat.

[Howdy]

The Unions didn't do any favors to Hostess. I was told the Unions demanded that bread and twinkies be shipped in different trucks. If you had 50 loafs of bread, and 50 boxes of twinkies going to a store they ahd to be brought in seperate trucks. If this is true ( I even heard this on the news ) then transportation cost would be higher due to useing 2 trucks. Stuff like that is meant to retain workers and cost the company a lot of money.

I also heard that it was 6000 or so voted to reject the contract that was offered by Hostess. I heard the Union told these workers that management was bluffing with this contract offer and they should vote accordingly. Those 6000 or so workers vote to regect the contract and ended up costing 18500 Hostess jobs and a unknow amount of residual jobs. I bet that a lot of these workers would love to change their vote now.


Pay cuts: It was reported that Hostess wanted a pay reduction ( I think it was 8% ).
A few years ago I took a 20+% pay cut to save my job. Did I like it? Heck No! But it was take a paycut or lose my job. I would rather work for 20% less than not have a job. Yes it hurt badly, how ever I have been able to survive. It was a good choice because I Never got layed off.
Howdy

[tanks350x]

I feel bad for the people involved that are losing their jobs but, they were told (so Iv'e heard) that, if they went on strike, the company was going to shut it's doors. Well it happened... What a shame...

[Scootertrash]

Yup they were told that the company would shut down.

This is the offer that Hostess made to the bakers union (from the press release):
From the press release:


Hostess Brands is unprofitable under its current cost structure, much of which is determined by union wages and pension costs. The offer to the BCTGM included wage, benefit and work rule concessions but also gave Hostess Brands’ 12 unions a 25 percent ownership stake in the company, representation on its Board of Directors and $100 million in reorganized Hostess Brands’ debt.

My understanding is the average salary was about $43,000 a year and Hostess wanted them to take an 8% cut and make it back over 4 years, along with the above offer.

The company needed concessions to reduce their cost structure. In exchange for concessions, they offered the union employees a 25% stake in the company. And a say it how it is run by giving them a spot on the Board of Directors.

If the company became profitable due to the reorganization then the employees would have made out. For some reason the union did not want to prosper with a profitable company. I find it interesting that the union wants to tell the owners how much employees should get paid, but didn't want to accept any of the burden of risk involved in making the company successful. Apparently the union felt it couldn't do a better job of running the company than the current owners. So now instead of taking a small pay cut and possibly bringing the company back, the employees have or get NOTHING. Zip. Nada. No job, No paycheck.


It seems the Union leadership has misled the workers. They think that a buyer will swoop in and reopen the plants and their jobs will remain.


The union business agent said he'd prefer to see Hostess sold.

"It's definitely got to be better than what this company's trying to implement. There are other bakeries out there looking to purchase some of these locations. These employees have the opportunity to go back in (under a new owner)."


There is NO BUYER. These jobs are gone forever.

So basically 1/3 of the workers caused the others to lose their jobs. (This was only a bakers union contract negotiation).

More info here:
http://www.hostessstrike.info/

[kb0nly]

I think thats why so many americans that are not part of a union, me included, see these unions as nothing but job killers. 8% cut, come on people, take it and move on and consider yourself lucky to have a damn job!! There is plenty of people out there that would work in your place for a lot less just to have a job and make a little money to live off.

Unions are nothing but modern organized crime. They sure operate like it.

[wisconsinite]

i'm not defending unions per se, but consider this: if all the labor unions disapeared today, how long would it be before laws affecting non-union hourly employees (such as myself and presumably most of the people on this forum) were affected? such as time and 1\2 pay for over 40hrs a week?

[Scootertrash]

Do you really think those laws would disappear if the unions went away? I doubt it.There are too many .gov employees that would lose their jobs and the majority of employed people would make sure it didn't happen..

Work site safety is covered by OSHA.

All of the reasons that the Unions were started are now covered by the federal government. If someone doesn't like what or how they are getting paid there are other jobs. That's why it's called the free market.

[kb0nly]

My heart goes out to the 18.5k employees losing their jobs right before the holidays... Why does this crap always happen right before the holidays?? Sure seems like it does. But in the end, they only have that 6k voting majority and the union to blame from what you described.

Any chance they will make up and play nice or is this a done deal now? I haven't had much time to read up on the news this week. I really don't care about losing hoho's... I care about 18.5k employees and their families going down the tubes.

[Lord Letto 20]

seen in yesterdays newspaper, my brother said it's in Canada only that if it happened in the states there would be another war.

[wisconsinite]

All of the reasons that the Unions were started are now covered by the federal government

and you trust them?

[CRAZY70MAN]

I got 10 boxes. Ebay bound with 3 boxes and the rest are for the Apocalypse. They are fetchin 20-30 bucks box on ebay. Easy way to make some extra money. At the same time sad to see the loss of jobs. I have been a union member for 20 plus years and have seen both sides of the fence. Some so called unions ain't all their cracked up to be. Worked the first 15 years at a company with no sick time, no paid vacation, no show up time, and 2-3 hours a day worth of free driving of semi and equipment trucks and trailers. Oh ya and it was a union shop. Pros and cons to any union....... I feel very lucky to have a few sick days and some vacation now after 20 years. God bless all those people who lost their job.

[Scootertrash]

A little update:

Bakers Union Admits They Intentionally Killed Hostess - Report

158033
Bakers Union President Frank Hurt

in a Friday statement, bakery union boss Frank Hurt admits that his union members knew that their strike could kill Hostess



“Our members decided they were not going to take any more abuse from a company they have given so much to for so many years.


Throughout this long and difficult process, BCTGM members showed tremendous courage, solidarity and devotion to principle. They were well aware of the potential consequences of their actions but stood strong for dignity, justice and respect.


http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2012/11/16/bakers-union-releases-statement-on.html?page=all

The greatest irony of Union propaganda is that the people who most fit the stereotype of lazy, privileged fatcat management they perpetuate are the union bosses themselves, not the execs for the company

Mr. Hurt's annual salary? $262,654.00

Spending breakdown of the bakers union:
Salaries
FRANK HURT PRESIDENT $262,654.00
DAVID DURKEE SECRETARY-TREASURER $244,396.00
JOSEPH THIBODEAU EXEC VICE PRESIDENT $218,989.00

Spending Breakdown

Total Spent in 2011: $13,923,506.00

Representational: $4,259,011.00 (30.59%)
Political Activities and Lobbying: $75,551.00 (0.54%)
Contributions, Gifts, and Grants: $36,663.00 (0.26%)
General Overhead: $1,167,473.00 (8.38%)
Union Administration: $1,516,360.00 (10.89%)
Strike Benefits: $1,849,651.00 (13.28%)
To Union Officers: $1,429,843.00 (10.27%)
To Union Employees: $2,353,880.00 (16.91%)
Education: $0.00 (0.00%)
Fees: $0.00 (0.00%)

Mr. Hurt still collects a paycheck while the people he convinced to break Hostess will have to suffer with unemployment since they have no job. Interesting........

But hey! The employees/union members
"showed tremendous courage, solidarity and devotion to principle"
Unfortunately that doesn't pay the bills.

[ditchmud]

Some day some of you might look back on these people with thanks. They knew the chances of their actions and still stood firm for what they believed in. That is why unions started..because workers had no rights and there were no safety standards or benefits for workers. People fought and were killed by corporate goon squads forming unions and earning what you all take for granted. Do a little search in history.

I see that you have posted the salaries of the union officials. Do a little search on the corporate salaries. Pay attention to the fact that while going bankrupt twice and repeatedly demanding and getting the workers to take wage and benefit cuts they gave themselves enormous raises.

[Scootertrash]

Since I'm out of town with a crappy internet connection, why don't you post up some links to the shenanigans by Hostess officials?

I'm well aware of the history of unions, and their past and current behavior related to business and political events.

Upper management raises are typically voted on by the shareholders in the company, they can't just "give" themselves raises. In addition, who holds the trump card? The company owners and the shareholders. If they decide to close the company who loses?

[captainweezy]

Well maybe now they will bring back chocodiles to the mid-west. If you haven't heard, Fiat is purchasing the hostess company. I knew it would be back!

http://autoblopnik.com/2012/11/19/fiat-to-purchase-bankrupt-hostess-brands/

[dustrunner]

i went to the store 2 get some and they were sold out... some guy supposedly bought all they had and is selling them on e bay..... wtf

[captainweezy]

i went to the store 2 get some and they were sold out... some guy supposedly bought all they had and is selling them on e bay..... wtf

Go up to post 16. Its that dang crazy70man. I tell you what that is horse cra p. I know that guy and he is a real piece of work.:D

[Mosh]

"Amidst rising tensions in Isreal this week, with a looming fear of shortage of preserative laced 100 year storage foods, in conjunction with a 48% fall in Jenny Craig and Richard Simons stock last Friday....... The Obama administration has approved an emergency 10 million dollar bailout, to save the Hostess company. Two million will be set aside for new advertising campaigns for Jenny Craig and a emergency filming of a new "Sweating to the Twinkies" by Mr simons.

Skinny people, along with those that have health club memberships, will provide a small portion of the 10 million funding on next years tax plans. Sneaker prices will be raised by 5% in 2014.

Next week, Ebayers will be reviewed for additional assistance from the Obama camp, for being victims of the Hostess/Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme....In the meantime, the Obama administration had no comment on the rising tensions in Isreal and will adress that situation after the new year"."

[dcreel]

Maybe if Hostess was based in Israel Obama would stand beside Israel.. instead of helping Hamas bomb them.. Obama=Ding Dong

[CRAZY70MAN]

Go up to post 16. Its that dang crazy70man. I tell you what that is horse cra p. I know that guy and he is a real piece of work.:D

:D :p......You know it Shane. As J.P Morgan once said "Timing is everything in business". :lock::lock: And they laughed at me at work.:lol::lol: I will laugh when my paypal account is full for trike parts from twinkies!! lmfao...

[captainweezy]

It really is hilarious. I went to a couple gas stations and saw there was only one pack of doughnuts left between the 2 of them. They were the crunchy crumble ones too! LMAO....Lil Debs were stocked locked and ready to rock so I snagged a couple of fudge rounds.

Andy, I cant say I blame you for sure. Any time you can make a buck for trike parts I do it too. As soon as something is sold I am already thinking hummm what do I need.:)

[atc350xer]

Stopped at the grocery store today, they had a huge table with Hostess cakes on sale? 2/$6... of course I bought Twinkies and Hostess Cupcakes.