No more Twinkies? Hostess plans to shut down

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,3175964.story

Hostess CEO says strike was fatal blow for bankrupt company and that it is too late to fix it. Nearly 600 could lose jobs in Schiller Park and Hodgkins bakeries.

Reuters

12:56 p.m. CST, November 16, 2012

Hostess Brands on Friday received a court order for an expedited hearing on its request to
liquidate.

The hearing on liquidation request is scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern time Nov. 19, in bankruptcy court in White Plains, N.Y.

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.

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

way to go unions give yourselves a hand another greedy corporation done in by you good job guys only cost yalls 18,500 . good job guys mission accomplished .

[ludo21]

dumb unions, worthless. ugh


Anyway I heard this on the radion on the way to work today and bought Twinkies, and Cupcakes!!

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

A terrible blow to red state America, to be sure.

Oh well - you've still got Krispy Kreme and Chick-fil-A.

[Requiem]

Oh darn. I guess all the folks down in the Bible Belt will have to resort to dipping Jack Link's beef jerky sticks in molasses and crisco. The horror!

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by Requiem

Oh darn. I guess all the folks down in the Bible Belt will have to resort to dipping Jack Link's beef jerky sticks in molasses and crisco. The horror!

[Pony Boy]

WTF ........ they legalize marijuana and then take away Twinkies and Ding Dongs .... the old hippies in Boulder have to be pissed off.

[Requiem]

Originally Posted by Pony Boy

WTF ........ they legalize marijuana and then take away Twinkies and Ding Dongs .... the old hippies in Boulder have to be pissed off.

Not the kind of stuff those guys go out and eat when they get the munchies. I can count on my hand the number of obese stoners I know.

[Fedaykin]

Gotta love stupid corps using unions as a scapegoat. You all eat it up -- like disease causing processed "cake" products.

The story in context:

"Our members are on strike because they have had enough. They are not willing to take draconian wage and benefit cuts on top of the significant concessions they made in 2004 and give up their pension so that the Wall Street vulture capitalists in control of this company can walk away with millions of dollars.

Over the past eight years since the first Hostess bankruptcy, BCTGM members have watched as money from previous concessions that was supposed to go towards capital investment, product development, plant improvement and new equipment, was squandered in executive bonuses, payouts to Wall Street investors and payments to high-priced attorneys and consultants.

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.


In Japan, the first thing the Execs do when the company is in trouble is cut executive pay.

In the U.S., the first things the execs do when the company in trouble is give themselves massive pay increases.


Gee, I can't imagine why the latter fail with such brilliant and honest leadership.


http://www.vendingmarketwatch.com/ne...ility-closings

[Drek]

Originally Posted by DAN_BRONCO_FAN

way to go unions give yourselves a hand another greedy corporation done in by you good job guys only cost yalls 18,500 . good job guys mission accomplished .

Your statement here implies that had the union capitulated to Hostess' demands that the company might well have regained fiscal solvency. Is that a correct assumption?

If so then that means a large enough market exists for a company to profit within said market. The free market dictates that all such voids are filled by profit seeking entrepreneurs. End result: someone will fill this void more effectively and has 18,500 skilled workers just waiting to do so, and those workers will have significantly greater trust in this new employer, as opposed to the previous one who they accepted pay cuts from just four years ago and who hasn't been matching their contractual obligations regarding pensions for the last year.

Isn't this basically what the right claims we should have let the automobile industry do, but on a much smaller scale? In this case it's 18,500 jobs, with the auto industry the total fallout was estimated to be more like 1M or more (as many parts suppliers and the like would have gone under).

[Pony Boy]

But on the serious side, Wonder Bread is an 82-year-old company with 18,000 employees and the Union just took them from making bread to the bread lines.

[Drek]

Originally Posted by Fedaykin

In Japan, the first thing the Execs do when the company is in trouble is cut executive pay.

In the U.S., the first things the execs do when the company in trouble is give themselves massive pay increases.


Gee, I can't imagine why the latter fail with such brilliant and honest leadership.

In reality Hostess was owned by an enterprise not too different from Bain Capital. They ran up the debts, gave massive salaries and bonuses to the new "management" and have let the company tank. The unions kept taking the losses on the chin in an attempt to keep it afloat, but it is quite clear that the owners behind the curtain are just using the zombified corpse of Hostess to keep funneling massive salaries into their pockets. If the union had acquiesced to this current demand they'd find themselves in the same boat a year or two down the road, asked to take another big cut to "save the company". When does it end? When you tell 'em to **** off and die so someone else can fill their void in the market.

[bronco militia]

just what this country needed: 18,000 more people unemployed

:sad:

[Drek]

Originally Posted by bronco militia

just what this country needed: 18,000 more people unemployed

:sad:

What was the alternative?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by Drek

Your statement here implies that had the union capitulated to Hostess' demands that the company might well have regained fiscal solvency. Is that a correct assumption?

If so then that means a large enough market exists for a company to profit within said market. The free market dictates that all such voids are filled by profit seeking entrepreneurs. End result: someone will fill this void more effectively and has 18,500 skilled workers just waiting to do so, and those workers will have significantly greater trust in this new employer, as opposed to the previous one who they accepted pay cuts from just four years ago and who hasn't been matching their contractual obligations regarding pensions for the last year.

Isn't this basically what the right claims we should have let the automobile industry do, but on a much smaller scale? In this case it's 18,500 jobs, with the auto industry the total fallout was estimated to be more like 1M or more (as many parts suppliers and the like would have gone under).

There you go ruining another perfectly good right-wing talking point.

[lonestar]

Drek 18,500 skilled workers

Yep takes loads of skill to make a Twinkie.

You liberals amaze me.

If another company buys the recipe for twinkies It will certainly not be a union shop.

You just do not get it.

Someone mentioned draconian cuts in pay and pension.

He stupid it don't anymore draconian than where they are now.

Let's add another 18,500 to those 47%.
Way to go liberals.

[Fedaykin]

Originally Posted by Drek

In reality Hostess was owned by an enterprise not too different from Bain Capital. They ran up the debts, gave massive salaries and bonuses to the new "management" and have let the company tank. The unions kept taking the losses on the chin in an attempt to keep it afloat, but it is quite clear that the owners behind the curtain are just using the zombified corpse of Hostess to keep funneling massive salaries into their pockets. If the union had acquiesced to this current demand they'd find themselves in the same boat a year or two down the road, asked to take another big cut to "save the company". When does it end? When you tell 'em to **** off and die so someone else can fill their void in the market.

Yep, someone will buy up the assets, right the ship, and Twinkies (and these employees) will live on.

Likely Bimbo.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by lonestar

Yep takes loads of skill to make a Twinkie.

You liberals amaze me.

If another company buys the recipe for twinkies It will certainly not be a union shop.

You just do not get it.

Someone mentioned draconian cuts in pay and pension.

He stupid it don't anymore draconian than where they are now.

Let's add another 18,500 to those 47%.
Way to go liberals.

Thanks for giving us the perspective of adults who read and write at a fifth-grade level.

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

Originally Posted by Drek

Your statement here implies that had the union capitulated to Hostess' demands that the company might well have regained fiscal solvency. Is that a correct assumption?

If so then that means a large enough market exists for a company to profit within said market. The free market dictates that all such voids are filled by profit seeking entrepreneurs. End result: someone will fill this void more effectively and has 18,500 skilled workers just waiting to do so, and those workers will have significantly greater trust in this new employer, as opposed to the previous one who they accepted pay cuts from just four years ago and who hasn't been matching their contractual obligations regarding pensions for the last year.

Isn't this basically what the right claims we should have let the automobile industry do, but on a much smaller scale? In this case it's 18,500 jobs, with the auto industry the total fallout was estimated to be more like 1M or more (as many parts suppliers and the like would have gone under).

NO NO NO YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG IM ALL FOR THIS EVIL CORPORATION BEING FORCED OUT OF BUSINESS HELLS YEAH NO MORE TWINKIES or hostess ding dongs or any other sweets we dont need those evil foods either

[Pony Boy]

Originally Posted by L.A. BRONCOS FAN

Thanks for giving us the perspective of adults who read and write at a fifth-grade level.

Come on you can do better than that, give us a fifth-grade level cartoon.

[lonestar]

Originally Posted by Pony Boy

Come on you can do better than that, give us a fifth-grade level cartoon.

So that is what he had to say. He is on IGGY so I do not see his juvelinile posts anymore.

Or should I say cartoon boi strikes again.

How typical.

[Pony Boy]

Originally Posted by DAN_BRONCO_FAN

NO NO NO YOU GOT IT ALL WRONG IM ALL FOR THIS EVIL CORPORATION BEING FORCED OUT OF BUSINESS HELLS YEAH NO MORE TWINKIES or hostess ding dongs or any other sweets we dont need those evil foods either

WTF you talking about .......

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

Originally Posted by Pony Boy

But on the serious side, Wonder Bread is an 82-year-old company with 18,000 employees and the Union just took them from making bread to the bread lines.

but but wonderbread is a evil corporation so what if 18,000 people are unemployed LA BRONCO FAN and the others say thats A-ok they probably voted for Romney they deserve it t right and California is such a paradise now isnt it. think they got the highest tax rates around and property tax too but California love taxes

[Requiem]

I see that none of the usual right-wing turds could repond to Fed or Drek. **** 'em.

[That One Guy]

The question isn't about the business side at all. That's not necessarily the business of the employees. The only question should have been what the workers could make elsewhere. If the proposed numbers would still be better than getting a new job, they should've taken it. If, however, the proposed would have been worse, they should have accepted it while looking for new jobs.

Simple fact is the proposed cut was better than what they have now.