The Unions killed Twinkies!!

[2011GT]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/19/hostess-union-hopes-buyer-will-put-employees-back-to-work/

The liquidation of Hostess has been put on hold after a federal judge ordered the company and union officials to come back to the table for more talks, Fox Business Network reported.

The union that brought the 85-year-old baker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread to its knees was holding out hope that a buyer will salvage chunks of the company and send the union's members back to work, even as Hostess Brands Inc. had geared up for a fire sale.

Hostess, the company behind treats snacked on for generations, presented to a federal bankruptcy judge a plan to shut down 36 plants and sell off the company's business. Their liquidation plan was sparked by a nationwide strike orchestrated by the snack maker's second-largest union, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers.

The Wall Street Journal reports that while Hostess has said the shutdown would result in the loss of more than 18,000 jobs and place the fate of more than 30 American brands in jeopardy, union President Frank Hurt said he believed there was "more than a good chance" that a buyer quickly would swoop in to buy the profitable parts of the company and give his union's members their jobs back.

"I'm not in a position to promise anybody anything, but I'm in a position to be hopeful," he said Sunday to the Journal.

Hurt, whose union counts 5,600 Hostess employees as members, said he was comforted by the recent frenzy over Hostess products, as consumers rushed to stock up after Friday's announcement of the shutdown. "People are going crazy because they think they're not going to be able to get any Twinkies or Ho Ho's or Wonder Bread," he also said in the interview. "They'll be produced somewhere, some time and by our members."

Hostess Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn had a different vision of how the bankruptcy auction process would play out.

"Nobody wants to have anything to do with these old plants or these unions or these contracts," Rayburn said in an interview. The company had hunted for buyers for the last several years as it tried to avoid a second trip into bankruptcy, but no buyer came forward.

[Bputacoma]

I guess they got what they want. stupid Merican's!

http://news.yahoo.com/twinkies-baker...--finance.html

Twinkies bakers say they'd rather lose jobs than take pay cuts

KANSAS CITY, Mo./NEW YORK (Reuters) - Enough is enough, say bakery workers at Hostess Brands Inc.

After several years of costly concessions, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM) authorized a walk-out earlier this month after Hostess received bankruptcy court approval to implement a wage cut that was not included in its contract.

With operations stalled, the company that makes Twinkies and other famous U.S. brands said last week that liquidating its business was the best way to preserve its dwindling cash. It won court approval on Wednesday to start winding down in a process expected to claim 15,000 jobs immediately and over 3,000 more after about four months.

Interviews with more than a dozen workers showed there was little sign of regret from employees who voted for the strike. They said they would rather lose their jobs than put up with lower wages and poorer benefits.

"They're just taking from us," said Kenneth Johnson, 46, of Missouri. He said he earned roughly $35,000 with overtime last year, down from about $45,000 five years ago.

"I really can't afford to not be working, but this is not worth it. I'd rather go work somewhere else or draw unemployment," said Johnson, a worker at Hostess for 23 years.

With 18,500 workers, Hostess has 12 different unions including the BCTGM, which has about 5,600 members on the bread and snack item production lines, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 7,500 route sales representatives, drivers and other employees.

Unlike some non-unionized rivals, the maker of Wonder Bread and Drake's cakes had to navigate more than 300 labor contracts, with terms that often strained efficiency and competitiveness, Hostess officials have said. In some extreme cases, contract provisions required different products to be delivered on different trucks even when headed to the same place.

Aside from those so-called onerous labor contracts, Hostess has grappled for some time with rising ingredient costs and a growing health consciousness that has made its sugary cakes less popular. It filed for bankruptcy in January, only three years after emerging from a prior bankruptcy.

Lance Ignon, speaking on behalf of Hostess, said the company recognized how difficult the past few years had been for workers and wished it did not have to ask them for more givebacks.

"But the reality was that the company could not survive without those concessions," Ignon said.

FRUSTRATIONS, COMPLAINTS

Workers had a laundry list of frustrations, from rising healthcare costs to decreased wages and delayed pension benefits. They even cited a $10-per-week per worker charge they said Hostess claimed was needed to boost company capital.

"They have taken and taken and taken from us," said Debi White, who has worked at Hostess for 26 years, most recently as a bun handler at its bread and roll plant in Lenexa, Kansas.

"They have been walking around stomping their foot saying either you give in ... or else we're going to close you now. Well, go ahead, we're tired of their threats," she said. "That's how we feel."

Hostess workers are now scrambling to figure out when their health insurance runs out -- or if it already has -- and where and how to apply for job retraining and unemployment benefits.

Following a summer and autumn spent in labor negotiations trying to find a common path to reorganization, Hostess' management gained concessions from some unions, including the Teamsters.

The fear of thousands of job losses, for its own members and other unions, led the Teamsters to plead with the BCTGM to hold a secret ballot to determine if bakery workers really wanted to continue with the strike, even with the threat of closure.

Teamsters officials complained that bakery union leaders did "not substantively look for a solution or engage in the process," and complained that the BCTGM called for its strike on November 9 without first notifying the Teamsters.

They said that, unlike the bakery union, the Teamsters voted to "protect all jobs at Hostess." Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said Wednesday's court approval for liquidation marked "a sad day for thousands of families affected by the closing of this company."

Bakery union President Frank Hurt has said that any labor agreements would only be temporary as Hostess was doomed anyway. The union said new owners were needed to get Hostess back on track and the only way they would return to work was if Hostess rescinded its wage and benefit cuts.

"Our membership ... just had no confidence in this management group being able to run a business," said Conrad Boos, a BCTGM local business representative in Missouri.

Hurt was not immediately available to comment on Wednesday but the union said in a court filing its sole objective was to leave Hostess with "a real, rather than an illusory or theoretical, likelihood of establishing a stable business with secure jobs."

On Wednesday, Hostess' lawyer Heather Lennox said the company had received a "flood of inquiries" from potential buyers for several brands that could be sold at auction, and expects initial bidders within a few weeks.

[white trash wagon]

I'm no fan of unions, but read up on Hostess. This company has been serious financial trouble for years, due to mismanagement.

While the workers saw thier pay cut 30%, the execs doubled their own pay. Part of their bankrupcy plan filed in court was $20 miilion dollars in executive bonuses.

[talisman]

Sounds like that place going under is the best thing that can possibly happen for everyone involved.

[Sgt Beavis]

Sounds like that place going under is the best thing that can possibly happen for everyone involved.

Yea, I tend to agree. It'll be sad to see our Twinkies having "made in mexico" written on the side.

BTW, my order on Amazon was cancelled. I've got my wife convinced she has to make some for our son, when he is old enough.. hahaha