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Hostess threatens to lay off 18,000 employees unless strike ends[W:521]

Dickieboy said:
I might be wrong but Wonder bread is a Hostess brand and is pretty popular. Wouldn’t their absence on the store shelf cause a bread shortage and thus a price increase at least in the short term? Wouldn’t the supposed price increase on a pretty universal staple harm the low/middle class folks?
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Should people all over take pay cuts to ensure cheaper products for the poor?
 
A manufacturing company in our town had a union that went on strike in July of 2010. One year later these guys were still on strike ...standing out there day in and day out with their little signs. In the mean time, the company hired new employees to do the work. However, it didn't work out well for either side in the end. Right now this company is in the middle of closing down. So everyone lost in the end.
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
Should people all over take pay cuts to ensure cheaper products for the poor?
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Interesting strawman there...isn't that what 'tax the rich' is all about?

Specific to your question, no.
 
Dickieboy said:
Interesting strawman there...isn't that what 'tax the rich' is all about?

Specific to your question, no.
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So then your concern about Wonderbread and the poor was just for show?
 
With unemployment paying $11 an hour, why work for $18? The government is going to literally finance the destruction of Hostess.
 
Fisher said:
Little Debbie and whoever buys the rights to the Hostess Brands
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Why can't the union just take over like workers did in Argentina when factories closed down? Let Hostess become an employee-owned company.
 
Zalatix said:
Why can't the union just take over like workers did in Argentina when factories closed down? Let Hostess become an employee-owned company.
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It wouldn't be employee owned, it would be union owned.
 
Zalatix said:
Why can't the union just take over like workers did in Argentina when factories closed down? Let Hostess become an employee-owned company.
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Let?
Because the Name, property, and equipment belongs to the Company/Share holders.

Let the Union and the employees buy it if they can afford it.

What's really messed up about this is basically you have one Union screwing over it own members and another Union just to make a point.
And some people think Unions actually care about them. Doh!
 
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Excon said:
Let?
Because the Name, property, and equipment belongs to the Company/Share holders.

Let the Union and the employees buy it if they can afford it.

What's really messed up about this is basically you have one Union screwing over it own members and another Union just to make a point.
And some people think Unions actually care about them. Doh!
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Unions are fighting for better wages. Sorry but the world doesn't work the way Gina Rinehart thinks it should.

Should I point out how wages have failed to keep up with productivity growth?
 
Excon said:
Let?
Because the Name, property, and equipment belongs to the Company/Share holders.

Let the Union and the employees buy it if they can afford it.

What's really messed up about this is basically you have one Union screwing over it own members and another Union just to make a point.
And some people think Unions actually care about them. Doh!
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Unions are trying to get better wages for workers. You do realize, of course, that workers have become 300% as productive as they were in 1947, but have only received about a 100% wage increase since then? Workers are giving Corporations far more than they're getting in return.

Get used to workers fighting for better wages - nationwide. Your beloved CEOs get better pay as time goes on. Workers are people, too.

Sorry, but reality isn't what Gina Rineheart says it is.
 
Zalatix said:
Why can't the union just take over like workers did in Argentina when factories closed down? Let Hostess become an employee-owned company.
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If it liquidated they could if they bought what they need from the bankruptcy trustee to reopen, but I doubt the employees have the money. When that has happened in the US, it usually was when there was a large multi-generation pension plan that bought the company's stock out.

EDIT: It is done.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/hostess-maker-twinkies-ding-dongs-says-closing-business-1C7112898

In a statement, Hostess said its bakery operations have been suspended at all plants and that it would lay off most of its 18,500 workers to focus on selling its assets. It said it has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court seeking permission to close its business and sell its assets, including 33 bakeries and 565 distribution centers.

The company said it would continue to deliver products and its stores would remain open for several days to sell already-baked products.

"The Board of Directors authorized the wind down of Hostess Brands to preserve and maximize the value of the estate after one of the company's largest unions, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), initiated a nationwide strike that crippled the company's ability to produce and deliver products at multiple facilities," Hostess said in the statement.
 
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too bad i guess.. but they havent made a good fruit pie in years.. probably decades..
 
Dickieboy said:
No, honestly it was self concern...I don't want to pay more for a loaf of bread...:2wave:
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since when is wonderbread the cheapest bread? it is usually a local or store brand....
besides, wonderbread sucks....
 
The people's mindsets need to change. 18,000 unemployed now. They opted to be unemployed instead of a small sacrifice with a paycut. We took a nation-wide paycut and salary increment freeze for 2 years when the economy was bad.
 
UtahBill said:
since when is wonderbread the cheapest bread? it is usually a local or store brand....
besides, wonderbread sucks....
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Wonder is not the cheapest brand but it is my WIFE's favorite. I DO purchase the store brand (when she's not around). My underlying point was that there is no surplus of large volume bakeries, increasing the existing ones production is somewhat limited AND bread is a general staple for a vast portion of consumers. This reduction in supply will cause even the price of the 'local or store brand' to increase. Agree?
 
Fisher said:
If it liquidated they could if they bought what they need from the bankruptcy trustee to reopen, but I doubt the employees have the money. When that has happened in the US, it usually was when there was a large multi-generation pension plan that bought the company's stock out.

EDIT: It is done.

Hostess, maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs, says closing business - Business on NBCNews.com

In a statement, Hostess said its bakery operations have been suspended at all plants and that it would lay off most of its 18,500 workers to focus on selling its assets. It said it has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court seeking permission to close its business and sell its assets, including 33 bakeries and 565 distribution centers.

The company said it would continue to deliver products and its stores would remain open for several days to sell already-baked products.

"The Board of Directors authorized the wind down of Hostess Brands to preserve and maximize the value of the estate after one of the company's largest unions, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), initiated a nationwide strike that crippled the company's ability to produce and deliver products at multiple facilities," Hostess said in the statement.
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I just can't believe it.

I'm thinking it's not over yet. Perhaps the company is counting on the bankruptcy judge imposing that contract on the workers....? I don't know if they can do that, but from this link is appears they can actually throw it out:

American Airlines took a major step toward emerging from bankruptcy Tuesday, when a federal judge threw out its pilots' union contract. The airline's management has already negotiated concessions from its flight attendants, maintenance workers and other unionized employees. The decision by Judge Sean H. Lane will now let the Fort Worth-Texas airline lower its pilot payroll.
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Bankruptcy judge throws out AMR pilots' contract - Yahoo! Finance

Only about 7,000 of Hostess Brands' 18,000 employees are union. I'd imagine the other 11,000 are pissed as hell.

If the union doesn't have something up its sleeve here, I think they're the worst union on planet earth. If they think they sent a message to other employers with their putting this company out of business, I'm thinking it's the other way round -- this sent a message to other employees at other companies that their union is screwing with their livelihood.
 
I hope the union is happy with what they've accomplished here. I hope the union workers are happy taking a 50%+ cut in pay for 36-99 weeks while they're on unemployment. I hope the non-union workers make the union workers feel like the selfish, irrational little assholes they are.
 
tessaesque said:
I hope the union is happy with what they've accomplished here. I hope the union workers are happy taking a 50%+ cut in pay for 36-99 weeks while they're on unemployment. I hope the non-union workers make the union workers feel like the selfish, irrational little assholes they are.
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And how do you propose that they "make the union workers feel like the selfish, irrational little assholes they are"? Felony harassment? Violence? What's the game plan here?
 
What I didn't know is that Rayburn took over as CEO in March of this year and had absolutely nothing to do with the shady pre-Ch11 filing behavior of the board/executives. That he managed to convince the top 4 beneath him to take a $1/year salary through the restructuring, and that he also convinced 4 other executives to take significant cuts to their salary speaks volumes to me about the man's intentions and goals.

And it just reinforces to me that the unions gave absolutely no ****s whether or not the cuts would ensure job stability and longevity for the Hostess brands, nor did they care that salary cuts had already been implemented at the top. They just didn't want to participate in the belt tightening, so instead of accepting a fairly modest cut (which nearly half of unionized workers had already accepted) they decided to burn the company to the ground. How utterly despicable.
 
Zalatix said:
And how do you propose that they "make the union workers feel like the selfish, irrational little assholes they are"? Felony harassment? Violence? What's the game plan here?
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"You're selfish assholes who cost the rest of us our jobs."

Should suffice right nicely.
 
tessaesque said:
What I didn't know is that Rayburn took over as CEO in March of this year and had absolutely nothing to do with the shady pre-Ch11 filing behavior of the board/executives. That he managed to convince the top 4 beneath him to take a $1/year salary through the restructuring, and that he also convinced 4 other executives to take significant cuts to their salary speaks volumes to me about the man's intentions and goals.

And it just reinforces to me that the unions gave absolutely no ****s whether or not the cuts would ensure job stability and longevity for the Hostess brands, nor did they care that salary cuts had already been implemented at the top. They just didn't want to participate in the belt tightening, so instead of accepting a fairly modest cut (which nearly half of unionized workers had already accepted) they decided to burn the company to the ground. How utterly despicable.
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Sorry Tess, by default CEO's are evil. :shrug:
 
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