Attention Twinkie Lovers - Hostess to liquidate

[CEHollier]

I know there are two sides to every story. I wonder if they will reopen under a different name in a right to work state?


http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/347834/3/18000-Hostess-workers-facing-termination

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/twin...trikes-persist/story?id=17725053#.UKYzwofLSUM

 

[Leadfoot]

Let the Union pay all their wages and benefits and see how long that lasts.

I'm not for working for nothing, but isn't it better to be working and earning a wage than be unemployed?

 

[CEHollier]

Let the Union pay all their wages and benefits and see how long that lasts.

I'm not for working for nothing, but isn't it better to be working and earning a wage than be unemployed?

I'm in health care and we are being pinched. I'm adapting and streamlining. If Obama care cuts my reimbursement significantly my treatments will have to reflect that. If it gets so bad I can't treat my patients appropriately I can find something else to do.

 

[oldman45]

Unions have forced many companies to close or move to other places. A local plant (ATT) moved to Singapore when the union demanded $16 per hour for those sweeping the floors. That pay did not include full health benefits (health, vision & dental) at no cost to the employee, retirement and other things. Over 7,000 jobs were lost locally.

The union leadership is still getting paid 15 yrs after the plant closed. None of the plant workers are getting paid but they paid into the union fund that keeps the union working although they have nothing to do other than use up the millions that is left in the fund.

 

[thatguy]

Bad timing. With the legalization of weed in several states, they were poised for greatness.

 

[JWG223]

Unions are like affirmative action. In rare circumstances there is a place for them, but not very often anymore.

 

[gp184]

Bad timing. With the legalization of weed in several states, they were poised for greatness.

Lmao!

Sent from my droid bionic while driving through your yard, smashing your cute little kittens.

 

[SGT_Kramer]

Bad timing. With the legalization of weed in several states, they were poised for greatness.

That comment is so full of WIN!

 

[CEHollier]

Bad timing. With the legalization of weed in several states, they were poised for greatness.

Thread Jacker

 

[Gus McCrae]

Bad timing. With the legalization of weed in several states, they were poised for greatness.

 

[JNieman]

I was quick to jump on the "Another case of unions biting off more than they can chew"

...but if you look at what actually happened, this -is- the fault of management. This is a company that decided to take on new investors, rack up tremendous debt, not follow through on their contractual obligation to the workers, not modernize the machinery and trucks as they were bound to do, repeatedly lowered the wages of the workers (with Union permission) all in the interest of padding the pockets of the highest-ups at the expense and cost of the workers.

This is a case where the union did try to "take one for the team" many times, but they kept getting crapped on until they finally said "Hey, no, that's enough - fix /your/ problems or you have no production" - to which the owners said "Get to work or you have no company to work at" though it's hard to know which side is bluffing.

The workers are counting on just getting hired on at whatever company takes their place, I'm sure. There are lots of manufacturers of sweet cakes and America is a bunch of lardasses who love to eat them.

I'm with the union on this one.

 

[oleheat]

Bad timing. With the legalization of weed in several states, they were poised for greatness.

That's a great point!

 

[JNieman]

Oh, and I checked the wages the company was paying and they're average, or slightly below average for the area. Their workers have already taken pretty good hits.

I used to work manufacturing in a town 30-40 minutes out of St Louis, and that Hostess plant is 30-40 minutes outside of Kansas City. If anything, the KC area would have a slightly lower cost of living than the area I was in.

The guys running the dough mixing machines who've got good experience level were getting $17/hr - that's about average, to slightly low compared to the factories I used to work at, and what my dad tells me of the factories he's doing machine maintenance at in the area. You'd expect to start at $10 as a temp, and if hired on, maybe get $15 with benefits, and end up around $20/hr. These are all non-union shops I'm comparing to, as well. Union shops were a little higher and/or with better benefits.

They got guys making $13-$17 in the Hostess factory which reinforces, to me, the reporting that they've already taken repeated cuts.

 

[RyanW]

It's far more beneficial to receive a government check than a pay check these days, at least for some people. All those people are now jobless due to an 8% pay cut that was already going to go back up in a couple years. Sounds pretty dumb to me. With so many people out of work, ANY job should be better than no job.

 

[kcinnick]

If a union rep was just a member of the union, fine, but unions turned into big business and they get a better deal than the people actually working. Worse then, they funnel money to politicians to support pro union stances, not pro industry positions.

 

[JNieman]

If a union rep was just a member of the union, fine, but unions turned into big business and they get a better deal than the people actually working. Worse then, they funnel money to politicians to support pro union stances, not pro industry positions.

Not all unions are like that though. UAW? Sure. Teamsters? Definitely. I don't know that the bakers union is. I know the butchers/meatpackers seemed reasonable and traditional.

 

[swamper]

Poor Tallahassee is gonna have a really rough time finding a Twinkie now.

 

[JNieman]

Poor Tallahassee is gonna have a really rough time finding a Twinkie now.

 

[general mills]

I was quick to jump on the "Another case of unions biting off more than they can chew"

...but if you look at what actually happened, this -is- the fault of management. This is a company that decided to take on new investors, rack up tremendous debt, not follow through on their contractual obligation to the workers, not modernize the machinery and trucks as they were bound to do, repeatedly lowered the wages of the workers (with Union permission) all in the interest of padding the pockets of the highest-ups at the expense and cost of the workers.

This is a case where the union did try to "take one for the team" many times, but they kept getting crapped on until they finally said "Hey, no, that's enough - fix /your/ problems or you have no production" - to which the owners said "Get to work or you have no company to work at" though it's hard to know which side is bluffing.

The workers are counting on just getting hired on at whatever company takes their place, I'm sure. There are lots of manufacturers of sweet cakes and America is a bunch of lardasses who love to eat them.

I'm with the union on this one.

Thank you, well spoken.

I've watched the airport rampers here have their job flushed down the toilet by corperate greed. Originaly, they worked directly for the airline and after a few years were making around $15/hr with good benifits. The airline sold their jobs off to a contract company that started everyone their at $8/hr.That went on for a year or so, then the airline formed a seperate company and bought the contract company. Now these workers were restarted at $7.80/hr. and top out at $9.91/hr. Their health benifits are ridiculous and unaffordable on their income. They work outside in the weather and are expected to stay on the job untill the planes are done, sometimes hours after their schedualed shift end. This is the same job they had a few years ago working roundaboutly for the same company. Need less to say, it's become a revolving door, barely staffed and the quality of service has hit rock bottom. You, the customer will be paying the price for this and airline management will profit.

"Unions are like affirmative action. In rare circumstances there is a place for them, but not very often anymore."

Perhaps that was once true and I used to feel that way, but the more I look around me, I think it's not rare circumstances anymore. I fear for where the workers of this country will be 30 years from now if the current trend of corparate greed continues. I agree that people pusing brooms and fast food workers should not make $15/hr, but I also don't think anyone who works by the hour is only worth minimum wage. The race to the bottom needs to stop.

 

[chad]

Well guess I'm going to start stock piling Twinkies. I still have this guy from when I was a kid. Hopefully someone buys out the name and keeps it?