Hostess Workers Strike - Company Closes Down

-={ARCLIGHT}=- · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 12:56 am

-={ARCLIGHT}=- wrote:

#2 I'm sure it is better for all now that everyone, executives, management, and workers are now all out of their jobs.[/s]

mattlap · **Joined:** Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:24 am **Posts:** 2529

-={ARCLIGHT}=- wrote:

#2 I'm sure it is better for all now that everyone, executives, management, and workers are now all out of their jobs.[/s]

So basically you believe that workers should keep taking it in the ass as long as they still have jobs.

These workers gave up 25% of their compensation 5 years ago to bring the company out of bankruptcy. The company already stopped contributing to their pensions last year, and now they wanted another 30% reduction in wages and benefits.

I'm for the most part anti-union, but when is enough enough? There is only so much you can give back before you can't afford to survive. That's your line in the sand and I wouldn't cross it either.

Here is a good article from Fortune magazine on the situation ... long before the strike .... http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/26/hostess-twinkies-bankrupt/

Here is another this week from a Forbes columnist .... http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/11/18/hostess-twinkie-defense-is-a-management-failure/

It's far too easy to keep making Labor the scapegoat of this disaster when it is a broken business model and bad management at the heart of it.

-={ARCLIGHT}=- · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:02 pm

You can stomp your feet all you want, but America doesn't have to buy what the unions and Obamacare are selling at the price they are asking.

This country was founded on capitalism, and that is NOT how capitalism works.

The market won't bear their asking price for their labor and healthcare.

If you think that it will...the you must feel that they will have no problems finding other work at their asking price.

Yes?

mattlap · **Joined:** Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:24 am **Posts:** 2529

-={ARCLIGHT}=- wrote:

You can stomp your feet all you want, but America doesn't have to buy what the unions and Obamacare are selling at the price they are asking.

This country was founded on capitalism, and that is NOT how capitalism works.

The market won't bear their asking price for their labor and healthcare.

If you think that it will...the you must feel that they will have no problems finding other work at their asking price.

Yes?

Hmmm ....I don't think I remember hearing Obamacare muttered anywhere in the Hostess bankruptcy case.

There are a whole host of input costs that go into the production of a good. Labor, materials, capital equipment ..etc.

Labor is no different than any other cost. Maybe a producer could squeeze the flour supplier. Or he can negotiate with the company that makes the ovens for a better deal. ALL are going to have a point where they walk away if the offer is too low. My guess is a 30% discount would cause each of the 2 to walk away as well.

Seeing that 2 potential bidders for Hostess Brands came out today and thought that they could offer the Unions a better deal than the 2 hedge funds were offering. In addition, the Union and Hedgefund's have agreed to arbitration as well.

So that's how capitalism works as well ..........

-={ARCLIGHT}=- · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:29 pm

mattlap wrote:

So that's how capitalism works as well ..........

I agree with you.

And that is how capitalism would have worked with GMC as well...had the government not stepped in and nationalized it.

mattlap · **Joined:** Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:24 am **Posts:** 2529

-={ARCLIGHT}=- wrote:

mattlap wrote:

So that's how capitalism works as well ..........

I agree with you.

And that is how capitalism would have worked with GMC as well...had the government not stepped in and nationalized it.

You can look at how both Republicans and Democrats handled the economic crisis ....and say none were treating things as free market. Bush was already in for a $50 Billion bailout to the auto makers before they filed for bankruptcy. The banks certainly were not either ..and continue to not be.

Right there is just a continuation by Obama of what Bush started ......

chuckmo48 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:46 pm

-={ARCLIGHT}=- wrote:

#2 I'm sure it is better for all now that everyone, executives, management, and workers are now all out of their jobs.[/s]

Well we know the executives took care of themselves...

-={ARCLIGHT}=- · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:46 pm

chuckmo48 wrote:

Well we know the executives took care of themselves...

And who do YOU take care of stupid?

Everybody looks out for themselves.

The executives risked their capital to create business and participate in commerce, thus employing the proletariat union members.

chuckmo48 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:01 pm

Yep...this is archie's view of capitalism...

Quote:

The company first went into bankruptcy in 2004.

Quote:

Hostess remained in bankruptcy for five years until it was brought out of bankruptcy in February of 2009 by Ripplewood Holdings, a private equity company. Remarkably, it exited bankruptcy with nearly $670 million in debt, almost 50 percent more than the $450 million it owed when it went into bankruptcy.

Quote:

Second, management was not shy about rewarding itself in spite of the companyâ€™s poor financial condition. The CEO upped his annual pay to $2.25 million and other top executives got raises of 35-80 percent. This doesnâ€™t seem like the behavior of management that puts the survival of the company first.

I'm sure archie that this vulture company's executives were the ones that put their sweat and tears in making this company...

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/no-cupcake-workers-turn-down-bad-deal-from-hostess

-={ARCLIGHT}=- · **Posted:** Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:40 pm

chuckmo48 wrote:

I'm sure archie that this vulture company's executives were the ones that put their sweat and tears in making this company...

And you wonder why I call you STUPID.

Do you have no reading comprehension at all.

They RISKED THEIR CAPITAL.

The proletariat is the person who has nothing to contribute but their "sweat and tears".

One would expect commie Marxist, like yourself to understand this.

That's why I address you and UNedgeUKATED as "Stupid", Stupid.

Now that Dumbo has been reelected, you have no prominate Republicans to attack, so you just troll threads until Mommy puts you to bed at 10:30.

-={ARCLIGHT}=- wrote:

The executives risked their capital to create business and participate in commerce, thus employing the proletariat union members.

mattlap · **Joined:** Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:24 am **Posts:** 2529

-={ARCLIGHT}=- wrote:

chuckmo48 wrote:

I'm sure archie that this vulture company's executives were the ones that put their sweat and tears in making this company...

And you wonder why I call you STUPID.

Do you have no reading comprehension at all.

They RISKED THEIR CAPITAL.

The proletariat is the person who has nothing to contribute but their "sweat and tears".

One would expect commie Marxist, like yourself to understand this.

That's why I address you and UNedgeUKATED as "Stupid", Stupid.

Now that Dumbo has been reelected, you have no prominate Republicans to attack, so you just troll threads until Mommy puts you to bed at 10:30.

-={ARCLIGHT}=- wrote:

The executives risked their capital to create business and participate in commerce, thus employing the proletariat union members.

Only management in this case had no "risk of their capital". The CEO and upper management were hired in to run the company. They were not the creators, or in the case of Hostess the Vulture Hedge Funds that bought Hostess debt for pennies on the dollar and then tried to squeeze a profit out of it. They were hired guns with no stake in the company.

You seem to have very little understanding of capitalism in general and even less understanding of Marx.

While Marx was a failure as a philosopher, he was a very brilliant social scientist and economist. He diagnosed the symptoms perfectly, but his solution was an completely wrong.

In mid to late 1800's Europe, the Elite (politicians and crony business owners) had squeezed labor to the point that they were no more than slaves. There was almost no upward mobility among the working class. All the assets of the continent were owned by the few, with nothing more to be created. The rich became richer, with the poor having little to no hope of climbing out of their social status.

150 years later ....and its starting to sound kind of familiar now isn't it? Doesn't matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat.

The only question is if we have learned from the past (I doubt it!!!! because we never do!) that capitalism cannot continue to cannibalize itself until it destroys itself by concentrating power and wealth in an ever smaller group.

-={ARCLIGHT}=- · **Posted:** Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:47 pm

mattlap wrote:

You seem to have very little understanding of capitalism in general and even less understanding of Marx.

Oh boo freaking hoo, the boards leading commie doesn't feel I comprehend economics, while ignoring the other commies complete lack of reading comprehension.

What is one to do?

The capitalist didn't cave to the union goons and the union proletariat have not been rehired yet, bottom line.

Point goes to the capitalist.

Expect to see this scenario repeat itself as unemployment rises under Obama.

-={ARCLIGHT}=- · **Posted:** Fri Apr 26, 2013 6:39 pm

Hostess To Reopen For Businessâ€¦ Minus Union Workers Who Drove Company Into Bankruptcy

Bye bye unions. Hello success.

Quote:

The bankrupt assets of Hostess Brands, Inc., the company responsible for Twinkies, Ho Hoâ€™s, Sno Balls and Ding Dongs, are being put back to work by a buyout firm. Whatâ€™s not being put back to work are the former Hostess unionized employees.

The unionized workers had been on strike when the company folded late last year.

The company had imposed a contract that would cut its 19,000 workersâ€™ wages â€” 15,000 of whom belonged to the workers from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) â€” by 8 percent. (The Teamsters was Hostessâ€™ largest union, followed by BCTGM.) The contract would have also cut benefits by 27 to 32 percent.

Hostess filed for Chapter 11 in January 2012. In November 2012, the company announced it would be shutting its doors for good. By that time, it had lost about $1.1 billion, largely due to bankruptcy filings.

But last month Apollo Global Management, LLC, and Metropoulos & Co., which owns Pabst Blue Ribbon and Vlasic pickles, bought the 83-year-old company for $410 million, renaming it Hostess Brands LLC. It is planning to re-open four bakeries over the next two and a half months, in Columbus, Ga.; Emporia, Kan.; Schiller Park, Ill.; and Indianapolis. It is also contemplating a fifth in Los Angeles.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, C. Dean Metropoulos, the companyâ€™s chief executive, said that between now and September, he plans to inject $60 million in capital investments into the plants, and hopes to hire at least 1,500 workers.

But those workers wonâ€™t be unionized.

LaughingAtLakeCo · **Joined:** Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:22 pm **Posts:** 1435

But those union former workers still have their pride. Yeah, they stuck it to the man all right.

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Hostess Workers Strike - Company Closes Down

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