Now A real disaster -- Twinkies may be gone

[illustratton]

Guess I need to go to the store and buy some Twinkies if I still can? I haven't had them in over 45 years - but loved them as a kid.

[Black]

Grumpyguy wrote:
One of the plants is here in Cincinnati.

Let's see, your company is in bankruptcy and they stick you with an 8% pay cut, BUT you can keep your job and the company stays in business--which sucks

or

in a bad economy you can go on strike, which you company has told you will result in the closing of the plants affected-and you lose your job--which definitely sucks even more.

I'm not seeing the logic in choice that was made. Sometimes you have to pick the lesser of two evils.

Do you have insider info regarding this particular strike situation, or is this just something you "know" about unions in general?

[mikebw]

[gabester]

Grateful11 wrote:
They're probably just trying to break the Union. They'll go under and sell the name to someone in Mexico and then y'all will eating Mexican made Twinkie's.

Bad economy, if corporations would let go of some of their hoard we probably would sitting at around 5.5-6% unemployment, maybe less.

Yeah, I remember the Berghoff restaurant in Chicago. Went out of business, couldn't keep paying the union staff that had worked there for 100+ years. Claimed they might do some catering under the old name...

A few months later they were back in business with non-union staff.

I'm sure this will be the same kind of thing.
g=

[lazydays]

[JoeH]

Grateful11 wrote:
They're probably just trying to break the Union. They'll go under and sell the name to someone in Mexico and then
y'all will eating Mexican made Twinkie's.

Bad economy, if corporations would let go of some of their hoard we probably would sitting at around 5.5-6% unemployment, maybe less.

You could be right, they could sell out to Bimbo Bakeries, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimbo_Bakeries_USA, which is part of the Mexican Grupo Bimbo. They already own about half of the largest bread brands in the US and quite a few other bakery brands.

[Paul F.]

Yeah.. they just fabricated being $800 million in debt, and filing Chapter 11, so they could stiff the union by 8% in pay cuts.

[Grateful11]

How many concessions was Management willing to give in?

I didn't say they fabricated the debt, I'd like to know how they got that far into debt. If they're waiting for
me to buy their high powered sugary crap they'll never survive.

I really don't see how an 8% cut for hourly workers could possibly save them.

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/0...-bankrupt/

[M>B>]

They have been around for a long time...

[Grateful11]

Here's what's wrong with Hostess like so many other corporations:

"The recent claim by Hostess CEO Greg Rayburn that a strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers (BCTGM) is forcing the cake maker to close three of its bakeries is a classic example of a corporation turning on its employees in the midst of a bankruptcy restructuring.

According to documents filed with the bankruptcy court earlier this year, Hostess was planning to close at least nine bakeries as part of its reorganization plan, although the company refused until recently to disclose which bakeries it intended to close.

St. Louis, MO Mayor Francis Slay also rejected the claim by Hostess that the closures were related to the strike. “I was told months ago they were planning on closing the site in St. Louis,” said Slay. “And there was no indication at that time it had anything to do with the strike the workers were waging.”

Responding to the statement by Hostess, BCTGM President Frank Hurt declared, “The recent claim by Hostess CEO Greg Rayburn that our strike is the reason for the closure of the three bakeries is simply not true,” said Hurt. “That statement is a continuation of a disturbing pattern by the company of issuing public statements that are erroneous at best and disingenuous at worst.”

BCTGM members voted to strike Hostess after the company imposed cuts that included ending payments to the employees’ pension plan while executives awarded themselves massive bonuses. Among the raises was a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) for the then-CEO of Hostess. At least nine other top executives of the company also received massive pay raises, including one who received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one that brought his salary from $375,000 to $656,256.

In the latest effort by Hostess to break the strike, a Hostess spokesperson declared on November 14, “If the strikes do not end soon, we will move to liquidate the company. And we’re talking about a matter of days, not weeks.”"