chess online
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 hostess to liquidate operationsthey do not want their pay cut. they want hostess to stop deducting pension payments from their paychecks since they no longer have pensions. they would like their pension back. hostess offered a settlement... it was rejected by 92% of the union employees. maybe i am missing some information. would be happy to hear others' points of view or info i do not have. |
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who killed hostess? Who Killed Hostess Brands and Twinkies? I’m sure you have, by now, heard the news. Hostess Brands, the company that gave us such remembered childhood treats as Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Devil Dogs and other baked foodstuffs that have fallen into disfavor in our more gourmand age, announced today that it would be closing for business, effective immediately. More than a few observers say they know who to blame for the demise of the iconic company: the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International union, which represents thousands of striking Hostess Brand workers who have refused to accept a new contract that would do everything from slash their salaries to their retirement benefits. Time for a reality check. Hostess has been sold at least three times since the 1980s, racking up debt and shedding profitable assets along the way with each successive merger. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, and again in 2011. Little thought was given to the line of products, which, frankly, began to seem a bit dated in the age of the gourmet cupcake. (100 calorie Twinkie Bites? When was the last time you entered Magnolia Bakery and asked about the calorie count?) As if all this were not enough, Hostess Brands’ management gave themselves several raises, all the while complaining that the workers who actually produced the products that made the firm what money it did earn were grossly overpaid relative to the company’s increasingly dismal financial position. So now an estimated 18,500 workers will join the nation’s unemployment rolls. But while Hostess Brands might soon become a forgotten name from the past, it’s unlikely such a fate awaits such signature products as Twinkies. Company executives have already asked for bankruptcy court permission to begin the process of selling off their famed product lines to other companies. Finally, a personal note: A few years ago, my husband picked our children up from a playdate at a home where, he said, it seemed like more food was banned than allowed, there was no television, and it was all too politically correct in the way all too many middle class childhoods are today. My husband’s response? Before bringing the boys home, he stopped in at a local grocery and introduced our ecstatic children to fine products of Hostess Brands. “Yodels,” he told me, “never tasted so good.” Addendum: Since this has come up in the comments, I need to remind everyone that Hostess Brands acquired Drake’s Cakes in one the many of the misbegotten mergers it was involved in. |
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Giving up that fabulously, easy life would have been a poor decision for management unless there were no other options. If bringing all the options (that they could) to the table would still not allow them to make a profit, then there is nothing else they could do. And, on the other side, the union probably brought all their concessions to the table and said "we can go no further". In that case, there is nothing else they could do. Unfortunately the economics were not favorable to one side, the other, or both sides being able to give or reject a little more and come to some agreement. In that case, this is the logical result. Now everybody including the "fat cat management team" loses, the stockholders lose, the vendors lose, customers lose, employees lose, and the our tax revenues lose. Everybody loses. |
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not quite |
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z ??? Does that really seem logical to you? That seems pretty unlikely to me. I don't think management is that stupid. I would think it to be a little more complicated than that, with other factors also figuring in. |
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Softy ... |
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How long has the union been at Hostess, 80 years or so? The union didn't want their pay cut 8% when management is doubling their take. Its hard to blame them. |
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Softie |
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softy www.aflcio.org |
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illi |
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That a company and its' well paid unskilled workers have survived for 80 years making and selling Snake Oil with a touch of flour and Yellow Dye reflects directly on the American consumers' choice of garbage as a.....what? People eat this stuff? |
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Ed ... |
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Everyone else is suffering in the Obama economy... |
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mrconservative64 22-Nov-12, 13:58 |
The Twinkie |
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Twinkies in Moderation The truth is one Twinkie is garbage. Really. Its trash. sugar and yellow food coloring. A Twinkie is likea diahrea but with with a creamy sugary filling. Enjoy that. Twinkies will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams....if you eat them. Geez....everyone knows this. |
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mri |
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You don't sell the sugar -- you sell its sweetness. and in the process became the first non-founder manager in history to become a billionaire -- did it by asking a simple question: What is our competition? What competes with Coke? Coca-Cola CEO Roberto Goizueta's answer: milk, orange juice, iced tea, coffee, bottled water -- as well as Pepsi & other sodas. And you cannot say Twinkie failed as a product because it is sugar and flour and fat -- Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry's built up their brands by going after the super-fatted market (20+ grams of fat per 4-ounce serving), specifically calling attention to their high fat and sugar content. You don't sell the sugar -- you sell its sweetness. For a consumer, the only way to resist temptation is to surrender. Twinkies stopped competing -- and Twinkies stopped tempting. When her sweetness is gone, she's easy to resist. . |
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