NBCDFW: Twinkies Maker Hostess Going Out of Business, CEO Blames Union Strike

[Burgold]

Why are Liberals?

Both are just bigots trying to impose their morals

http://nuwomb.wpengine.netdna-cdn.co...phy380x281.jpg

Better rebuttal and almost fair.

[twa]

When even the Teamsters tell you that you are a bloodsucking parasite that will kill the host........

[Burgold]

When even the Teamsters tell you that you are a bloodsucking parasite that will kill the host........

Please kill the hostess... don't be sexist.

Still, honestly, Hostess was following a poor plan. Their numbers have been dreadful for years and when they emerged from bankrupsy just a few years ago, the situation didn't really turn. You can talk about workers, but it really has more to do with consumer choice.

[twa]

But Bur, the option to continue was offered and rejected...by the workers

Twinkees will live on, just made by someone willing


http://www.hostessbrands.com/Closing.aspx
The BCTGM in September rejected a last, best and final offer from Hostess Brands designed to lower costs so that the Company could attract new financing and emerge from Chapter 11. Hostess Brands then received Court authority on Oct. 3 to unilaterally impose changes to the BCTGM’s collective bargaining agreements.

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.

“We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike,”


add

anyone know the wages and compensation of the Twinkee worker ants?
http://www.thenewamerican.com/review...ath-of-hostess

[mboyd784]

http://gawker.com/5961444/dont-worry...pany-collapsed

God bless the hedge fund job creators! We'd be lost without them.

[twa]

http://gawker.com/5961444/dont-worry...pany-collapsed

God bless the hedge fund job creators! We'd be lost without them.

about the level of fact I expect from Think Progress, even the commenters at the gawker are brighter

[brandymac27]

Will Twinkies be reborn through new Mexican ownership?

Next week may be Black Friday but sweets lovers across the nation hung their heads in sorrow on a dark Friday yesterday as Hostess announced they would cease making their line of products, which include the iconic Twinkies brand, because of the Bakers Union Strike.

But now as the brand heads towards liquidating and selling off their assets, a Mexican company may be angling to resurrect the golden Twinkies.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, while food producers ConAgra and Flowers Food, the American company behind Nature Valley granola, have expressed interest along with Little Debbie baker McKee Foods, Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo may hold the inside track.

Grupo Bimbo is the world’s largest bread baking firm, which already owns parts of Sara Lee, Entenmann’s and Thomas English Muffins and previously made what was considered a low-ball offer of $580 million a few years ago, Forbes reports. Now Hostess may only be worth $135 million.

Cont'd at link
http://nbclatino.com/2012/11/17/will...can-ownership/

Long Live the Twinkie!

[Larry]

Grupo Bimbo?

[twa]

Grupo Bimbo?

Bimbo is rather popular here

[jpyaks3]

Holy ****, look at what the company was trying to implement

-- An immediate 8 percent wage cut.

-- Shifting 20 percent more of health care costs onto the workers (for some workers, this would mean an increased cost of $240 a month for medical insurance).

-- Eliminating retiree Medigap insurance, which covers gaps in Medicare.

-- Eliminating Pension Supplement to pay health and funeral costs.

-- Closing an undisclosed 10 to 12 plants.

-- Eliminating the eight-hour day, which would mean no time-and-a-half pay after eight hours per day.


In addition, the company illegally froze pension contributions mandated under the contract for all of 2012, in violation of federal law. This is still being contested before the National Labor Relations Board.

And people want to try and blame the union? Ridiculous.

That is ignoring all the financial problems Hostess had before this.

Here is some more fully sourced info

Forbes: Hostess Exited Bankruptcy Because Of "Substantial Concessions By The Two Big Unions." Forbes explained that Hostess was able to exit bankruptcy in 2009 for three reasons, including that "substantial concessions" were made "by the two big unions" -- the Teamsters and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. Forbes further explained that "annual labor cost savings to the company were about $110 million" and that "thousands of union members lost their jobs." [Forbes, 7/26/12]

Hostess Had Stopped Contributing To Pensions And Wanted To Cut Worker Pay Further. According to The Kansas City Star, union leaders reported that Hostess had stopped contributing to workers' pensions and wanted to cut wages and benefits "by 27 to 32 percent":

The bakery workers union said the contract would cut wages and benefits by 27 to 32 percent, including an immediate 8 percent wage cut.

[...]

Union officials said the company stopped contributing to the workers' pensions last year, and 92 percent of union members voted to reject the contract in September. A bankruptcy court judge allowed the company to force the union to accept the new collective bargaining agreement.

"Hostess Brands is making a mockery of the labor relations system that has been in place for nearly 100 years," said Frank Hurt, international president of the union. [The Kansas City Star, 11/12/12]

Hostess Raised Executive Salary By 35% To 80%. According to The Wall Street Journal, in April Hostess' creditors noted that Hostess had dramatically increased executive pay, including increasing CEO compensation from $750,000 to $2.25 million. According to the Journal, Hostess' creditors called the move "a possible effort to 'sidestep' Bankruptcy Code compensation programs":

Last July, the court documents said, the compensation committee of Hostess's board approved an increase in then-chief executive Brian Driscoll's salary from to $2.55 million from around $750,000. The company had hired restructuring lawyers in March 2011, the creditors said, and filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 11.

[...]

Besides Mr. Driscoll, "other executives' salaries were increased by from 35% to 80%," the creditors said. The documents said that Mr. Driscoll subsequently renounced a portion of the increase while "other executives did not appear to have done so." Besides Mr. Driscoll, two other executives who saw their salaries increase have also left the company, according to the spokesman.[The Wall Street Journal, 4/4/12]

http://mediamatters.org/research/201...-scapeg/191440

[twa]

Holy ****, look at what the company was trying to implement

]

were they not getting far above the median wage/compensation for bakers?

maybe they can find work in a nice Taqueria now

[jpyaks3]

were they not getting far above the median wage/compensation for bakers?

maybe they can find work in a nice Taqueria now

So this is cool

Hostess Raised Executive Salary By 35% To 80%. According to The Wall Street Journal, in April Hostess' creditors noted that Hostess had dramatically increased executive pay, including increasing CEO compensation from $750,000 to $2.25 million. According to the Journal, Hostess' creditors called the move "a possible effort to 'sidestep' Bankruptcy Code compensation programs":

Last July, the court documents said, the compensation committee of Hostess's board approved an increase in then-chief executive Brian Driscoll's salary from to $2.55 million from around $750,000. The company had hired restructuring lawyers in March 2011, the creditors said, and filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 11.

as long as they don't uphold their contracts with their workers and as long as the workers have no recourse against drastic cuts and attacks on their wages and benefits. Gotcha.

[AsburySkinsFan]

were they not getting far above the median wage/compensation for bakers?

maybe they can find work in a nice Taqueria now

Classic thinking from he Right, as wokers we should just take what our benevolent demigods gift us through their grace while they live in luxury upon Olympus.

[Barney B]

Classic thinking from he Right, as wokers we should just take what our benevolent demigods gift us through their grace while they live in luxury upon Olympus.

Still, Driscoll's original salary (back when everybody was presumably acting in good faith) of $750,000 doesn't sound outrageous for a guy in his position, nor do the salaries of the other executives.

[nonniey]

Holy ****, look at what the company was trying to implement

.[/url]

And yet Hostess was offering a contract superior to most companies in the industry (believe the hostess workers would still have made over 20% more than the average baker). Bottomline, you're ignoring what the starting point was for these particular workers. Now they'll make significantly less on unemployment (Which we will pay for), than the average baker.