No more Twinkies? Hostess plans to shut down

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

(Cont.)

But in truth there are no black hats or white knights in this tale. It’s about shades of gray, where obstinacy, miscalculation, and lousy luck connived to create corporate catastrophe. Almost none of the parties involved would speak on the record. Still, it’s clear from court documents and background interviews with a range of sources that practically nobody involved can shoot straight: The Teamsters remain stuck in a time warp, unwilling to sufficiently adapt in a competitive marketplace. The PE firm failed to turn Hostess around after taking it over. The hedgies can’t see beyond their internal rates of return. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The Beginning Of the End

Also in July, the New York Post reported that Hostess and the Teamsters were close to a deal.

Under the terms of the proposed deal, the company would continue its contributions to the pension plans, and workers would agree to substantial pay and benefit cuts. The article quoted a Brooklyn Hostess delivery driver who said

“I am not taking another hit…I am making about $65,000. That is the same as I was making 10 years ago.”

He pointed to a Stroehmann’s bread truck driver delivering to the same supermarket who he said gets a guaranteed $300 a week — compared to his $195 — and earns much more in commissions.

This month the 6,600 Hostess employees who are members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers’ International Union voted to strike after the latest contract proposal from Hostess was rejected by 92% of its membership. Hostess management issued the following statement:

A widespread strike will cause Hostess brands to liquidate if we are unable to produce or deliver products. If that’s the case, the company will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,300-member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders. We urge our employees to remain on the job to rebuild the company.

In response to the strike, Hostess announced on November 16 that it would be laying off most of its 18,500 employees and liquidating its assets. In order to do so, it will require the approval of U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Drain. Consumers who may be fretting about the loss of their Twinkies, Ho Ho’s, Wonder Bread and other brands will probably not have to do without them for too long, as it is expected that other companies will be willing to purchase them from Hostess.

What We Learned

In recent days a variety of pundits and news sources have laid the blame for Hostess’s demise squarely at the feet of unions and their contracts. But a close examination reveals that were the workers to agree to work for free the company would probably not have survived; all the strike did was hasten the inevitable. Those on the right are quick to point to “greedy unions” in these situations, but it must be pointed out that in collective bargaining both sides come to an agreement that they believe that everyone can live with. Unions represent the wishes of their members, and it is only human nature to ask for as much as they can get in negotiations. Companies have the responsibility to share accurate financial information with the unions, and should draw a line in the sand when the unions ask for more than the company feels it can comfortably provide. No matter whether you are talking about a $50,000 a year employee or a $5,000,000 CEO, people get used to living on the salary they receive, and asking workers to give back substantial amounts of pay and benefits not once, but twice in a period of less than ten years while at the same time boosting executive salaries is not the way to achieve a good and peaceful relationship with labor.

Hostess workers were not asking for more; like many other workers in many similar situations in recent times they were merely trying to hold onto what they had. It was not the fault of the workers or their unions that Hostess suffered from years of inept management and failed ideas, but now their jobs are gone and they are left holding the blame.

[Pony Boy]

Originally Posted by L.A. BRONCOS FAN

Conservatives are saying the Union is the reason Hostess is closing, but they are lying.

Everything You (Probably) Didn’t Know About the Hostess Brands® Story

So you posted an article from "The Daily News Finder" and at the bottom it says this about the author....

Author: WesWilliams
Wes Williams is the pen name of a guy who couldn't use his own name to blog because of a conservative commentator who has the same name. Wes was a "change of life baby" who grew up listening to his parents' stories of the Great Depression and World War II. He comes from a long line of Democrats, and is a proud member of the FDR wing of the party. Wes lives in Sussex County Delaware with his wife of 32 years and three cats. He grew up in the beach area, went off to school, then came home to work for 29 years teaching in the school district he attended as a student. After working in marketing and PR for a little over a year he now works as a soccer coach and substitute teacher and dabbles in other pastimes, mainly those that involve writing, which has been a lifelong avocation.

[Pony Boy]

Originally Posted by L.A. BRONCOS FAN

There you go erroneously blaming unions for the actions of vulture capitalists on Wall Street again.

You're the poster boy for willful ignorance.

Let's say this plain and simple so you can understand:

The Bakers Union authorized a strike during the worst economy in nearly two generations and against a company that was in bankruptcy for the second time. As a result of the strike by the bakers, Hostess Brands closed the doors for good on 33 plants nation wide. Nice union representation there guys. In one stupid miscalculated blunder the Bakers Union managed to put 18,000 workers out on the street one month before Christmas.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by Pony Boy

So you posted an article from "The Daily News Finder" and at the bottom it says this about the author....

Author: WesWilliams
Wes Williams is the pen name of a guy who couldn't use his own name to blog because of a conservative commentator who has the same name. Wes was a "change of life baby" who grew up listening to his parents' stories of the Great Depression and World War II. He comes from a long line of Democrats, and is a proud member of the FDR wing of the party. Wes lives in Sussex County Delaware with his wife of 32 years and three cats. He grew up in the beach area, went off to school, then came home to work for 29 years teaching in the school district he attended as a student. After working in marketing and PR for a little over a year he now works as a soccer coach and substitute teacher and dabbles in other pastimes, mainly those that involve writing, which has been a lifelong avocation.

I knew I could count on you to ignore the facts presented and go straight for the ad hominem.

You're the poster boy for intellectual dishonesty.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by Pony Boy

Let's say this plain and simple so you can understand:

The Bakers Union authorized a strike during the worst economy in nearly two generations and against a company that was in bankruptcy for the second time. As a result of the strike by the bakers, Hostess Brands closed the doors for good on 33 plants nation wide. Nice union representation there guys. In one stupid miscalculated blunder the Bakers Union managed to put 18,000 workers out on the street one month before Christmas.

Your reading comprehension is so poor that I suspect no terms would be simple enough to explain this issue to you.

Bottom line: Right-wing disinfo merchants like you are blaming unions (SOP for the right) for the demise of Hostess when Bain-like vulture capitalists and Wall Street con men are actually responsible.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

[BroncoBeavis]

Originally Posted by Pony Boy

So you posted an article from "The Daily News Finder" and at the bottom it says this about the author....

It doesn't matter. As you can see when you point out how full of **** his articles are, he follows up with a bull**** flood so pronounced he has to span it across multiple posts.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by BroncoBeavis

It doesn't matter. As you can see when you point out how full of **** his articles are, he follows up with a bull**** flood so pronounced he has to span it across multiple posts.

He didn't point anything out.

As expected, he avoided any response to the factual assertions and went directly for the ad hominem.

Sort of like you're doing here.

[BroncoBeavis]

Originally Posted by L.A. BRONCOS FAN

He didn't point anything out.

As expected, he avoided any response to the factual assertions and went directly for the ad hominem.

Sort of like you're doing here.

I'm talking about what I said. You posted an article saying the interest on $1 billion in debt wiped out billions in "profit"

I said that's not possible unless Don Corleone is their chief financier. You ignore it and continue to work overtime on your tldr hall of fame career.

[Fedaykin]

Originally Posted by Pony Boy

Let's say this plain and simple so you can understand:

The Bakers Union authorized a strike during the worst economy in nearly two generations and against a company that was in bankruptcy for the second time. As a result of the strike by the bakers, Hostess Brands closed the doors for good on 33 plants nation wide. Nice union representation there guys. In one stupid miscalculated blunder the Bakers Union managed to put 18,000 workers out on the street one month before Christmas.

It's pretty clear hostess was doomed. Even the employees working for free would not have saved them from their own inept management.

But, by all means, keep sticking your head in the sand and pretending everything was fine except those damned union folks!

Whoever buys up hostess will then owe these employees pensions, etc. No point it taking one for the team when the coach has screwed up and put you down 100-0.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by BroncoBeavis

I'm talking about what I said. You posted an article saying the interest on $1 billion in debt wiped out billions in "profit"

I said that's not possible unless Don Corleone is their chief financier. You ignore it and continue to work overtime on your tldr hall of fame career.

Why would I bother reading (let alone responding to) your idiotic attempts at spin when it's already been established that your basic premise is false?

That is to say, you're trying to blame a union for the demise of the company when vulture capitalists are clearly to blame.

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

Originally Posted by BroncoBeavis

Odd. So the interest on $1 billion in debt wiped out $2.5 billion in "profits"

Someone here's playing with funny numbers.

The cost of sugar angle is an interesting one though. A good display of how trade protections can just as easily cost American jobs as help keep them.

well thats interesting to know .see LABF when you present stuff in a nice way people listen no name calling no acting irrational just plain facts .
none the less hostess chose to do bankruptcy after the union and the company couldn't come to agreement for some reason or another, well theres always little debbie and dolly madison

[BroncoBeavis]

Originally Posted by L.A. BRONCOS FAN

That is to say, you're trying to blame a union for the demise of the company when vulture capitalists are clearly to blame.

Where did I blame the union? I said the price of sugar was an interesting factor, Beyond that I didn't blame anything/one.

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

Originally Posted by L.A. BRONCOS FAN

well then why dont they do a shannahan and sue.
oh thats right they for some odd reason went bankrupt

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

again theres always dolly madison and little debbie

[Smiling Assassin27]

Twinkie and Wonder Bread lovers in the U.S. can still head north of the border to stock up on the baked goods even with the bankruptcy of Hostess Brands Inc.

Saputo Inc. (SAP), Canada’s largest dairy processor, has the trademark and brand rights to Hostess CupCakes and Hostess Twinkies in the country and manufactures the products themselves, said Sandy Vassiadis, a spokeswoman for the company.

“It’s totally separate,” she said, in an interview from Saputo’s headquarters near Montreal. “We own the rights in Canada so what’s happening in the U.S. doesn’t affect us.”

Take a drive north if you get the craving.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...a-post-hostess

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

if there is no more hostess how will Capt America defeat those super villains

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

and also its Gotham City PD favorite foods oh no sir not donuts but hostess pies now the Gotham City PD will have to go without their favorite snack sad very sad Joker has won finally

[lonestar]

Originally Posted by DAN_BRONCO_FAN

sad very sad Joker has won finally

Nobama strikes again.

But I guess we will not have to pay the nobamacare 5% surcharge. So there is a silver lining in it after all.

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

Originally Posted by lonestar

Nobama strikes again.

But I guess we will not have to pay the nobamacare 5% surcharge. So there is a silver lining in it after all.

lol

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

http://www.seanbaby.com/hostess/v2joker02.htm
check this link out its related to the hostess cartoons sean baby found .
he is the guy who writes cracked articles and edits comic book cartoons and make them funny

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-8-mo...s-all-time_p3/

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by lonestar

Nobama strikes again.

But I guess we will not have to pay the nobamacare 5% surcharge. So there is a silver lining in it after all.

[lonestar]

Just guessing cartoon boi strikes again, probably twice.

Ahahahahahahaha

[DAN_BRONCO_FAN]

Originally Posted by lonestar

Just guessing cartoon boi strikes again, probably twice.

Ahahahahahahaha

well his cartoons are a bit better than the facepalm worthy crap he spews .
if you was to read what he post you be happy he post dumb lil cartoons too it keeps down on the dumb azs stuff he posts.