Posted on 11/16/2012 5:13:37 AM PST by Sub-Driver
The Demise Of The Twinkie: Hostess Files Motion To Liquidate
By Tom Gara
And that’s that: Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies, Wonder Bread and more, announced this morning it has filed a motion with bankruptcy court to start liquidating the company immediately. A huge number of jobs are soon to be lost.
“Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce,” said CEO Gregory F. Rayburn in the statement, “and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”
In a letter posted on a new site set up to communicate with employees and suppliers through the liquidation process, Mr. Rayburn pinned the blame on its striking union:
Despite everyone’s considerable efforts to move Hostess out of its restructuring, when we began implementing the Company’s last, best and final offer, the Bakers Union chose to stage a crippling strike. This affected Hostess’ ability to continue to make products and service its customers’ needs and pushed Hostess into a Wind Down scenario. As a result, we are forced to proceed with an orderly wind down and sale of our operations and assets. We deeply regret taking this action. But we simply cannot continue to operate without the ability to produce or deliver our products.
There’s no way to soften the fact that this will hurt every Hostess Brands employee. All Hostess Brands employees will eventually lose their jobs – some sooner than others. Unfortunately, because we are in bankruptcy, there are severe limits on the assistance the Company can offer you at this time.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
These idiot union fools really think that a new owner will come and give them their same pay and benefits. In reality a new owner(s) (the brands could easily be divided between multiple companies) will likely be made by other existing bakeries. These guys will likely never work again.
Moochelle will insist on a Twinkie bailout. She snorts 2 two boxes per day.
“Why do I feel like I am living in the early chapters of Atlas Shrugged?”
Because you are. I’ve had that feeling for a few years now.
The union convinced these idjits that a new owner would give them pay and benefits as their contract promises. It is just not possible.
There are continuous ads running for Over The Road truck drivers & schools that teach such.
Maybe all those Hostess truck drivers will fill up some of those openings.
Most of those openings are NOT union, however. Many companies hire ‘owner-operator’ status only. If you are a driver who doesn’t own a truck, you can lease one of the company trucks.
Well Hostess soon to be ex-employees that is your union dues at work. Sucks to be you.
You'd think, in the era of Oboma, they'd be grateful they just had a job.
Good luck finding another one (idiots).
Wyatt’s Torch in Colorado: Atlas Shrugged
/With their food stamps they can now buy non-union LITTLE DEBBIE cakes.
In August I left my job (in NC) and moved back to Az. I started sending out resumes. Nothing. Crickets. It's weird out there. Thankfully, I am not in desperate need to work.
Twinkie can survive a nuke attack, but cannot survive unions. Go figure unions more powerful than a nuke strike!
Not “more powerful” - “more destructive!”
I can’t find anyplace on the web that McKee Foods is unionized. It does appear to be private. I’m not sure it would have the size or inclination to take over Hostess.
I’m still thinking that Hostess is such a good product that one of the conglomerate food corps would want it.
10-4. You corrected it. Thanks.
I have seen attempts but it's gettin hard to keep up I bet
Now to be known as nappy ho-hos.
Yep, that horrible, draconian 8% cut.... has become a 100% cut
I think the liabilities are part of the deal, too :(
McKee foods has annual revenues of just over $1b and currently employs over 6000. They are a private company and do not have any unionized facilities (headquartered in TN) as their production facilities are in RTW states.
They absolutely have the cash on-hand and the production capacity to absorb Hostess - they would likely utilize their existing distribution set-up (which differs quite a bit from the Hostess model). Selling an established “high-end” brand beside their value-focused brands would be a genius model and has the potential to pay huge dividends.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.