The Demise Of The Twinkie: Hostess Files Motion To Liquidate

Wall Street Journal ^

[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.

[JIM O]

Hostess was a the same point that we are as a nation. Hostess took the easy way out years ago and agreed to union demands that eventually were not sustainable. The nation agreed to spend to levels impossible to fund and here we are today. Congress should learn from the Hostess situation and not back down. Go over the cliff if that’s what it takes.

[theDentist]

The the “Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union”, aka The Big Leech, has sucked the life out of Hostess Brands, it’s Host. Now, the upper echelon of the Big Leech are still sitting pretty while their “brothers and sisters” now face winter and Christmas without work, having to support families on Unemployment provided buy a broke Government.

I wonder how many of them 18000 voted for Obama?

Congrats Leeches!!

[Little Pig]

Hopefully one of the other big baking companies will grab Hostess’ assets, or at least the brand and recipes. My Brother-in-law works for Bimbo (yeah, yeah, let it all out...), who would be a great umbrella for a revitalized Hostess, and the best part is they can probably put the production lines in their own existing plants.

[Red Badger]

The Union Bosses really don’t give a damn about the workers. They have their fat paychecks and retirement plans to fall back on.They will move on to some new racket in some new place in the union hierarchy and live life as usual. The workers will learn a lesson that they will never forget, but sadly some of them will continue to blame the company for their woes...............

[FlingWingFlyer]

I agree.

[BatGuano]

Note to all,

Remember that a Hostess’s Twinkie is not a stewardess’s beaver.

[oh8eleven]

the New York World Journal Tribune newspaper
When I grew up in NY (50s/60s), their predecessors were the NY World-Telegram & Sun, the Journal-American and the Herald Tribune.
Amazing that 50 years earlier they were all independent papers.

[Cato in PA]

This is FANTASTIC news! Just think how all the new food stamps will stimulate the economy! I’m sure Nancy Pelosi couldn’t be more proud.

[Red Badger]

Twinkies are the devil!......Devil Cake , that is!............

[Red Badger]

Probably ALL of them................

[Girlene]

Pretty sad. There were also people in the confectioners’ union that crossed the picket line.....just not enough of them to keep operations running efficiently.

[glennaro]

try and get some money from your union bosses

Never, ever forget: The leaders of any union see as their primary responsibility -- above all else including wages, jobs, worker health and safety, benefits ... everything else -- is the preservation of the union.

These idiots would rather kill the jobs of nearly 20,000 workers than show weakness as a union. They -- and the union members who elected them -- truly deserve the economic reality they are about to face. Hard-hearted - No; True - Yes!

[Boogieman]

There's a box of Twinkies in that grocery store. Not just any box of Twinkies, the last box of Twinkies that anyone will enjoy in the whole universe. Believe it or not, Twinkies have an expiration date. Some day very soon, Life's little Twinkie gauge is gonna go... empty.

[Lockbar]

Let the eat cup cakes!

[pnz1]

Does Little Debbie make fruit pies?

[rockinqsranch]

That’s right. I had the same experience as yourself. I know you are right on the mark.

[veritas2002]

Good luck to you union B*st*r*ds. Try finding another job. You might call Obama and see if he needs 16,000 people to make twinkies at the White House.

[Empire_of_Liberty]

At least this can happen in the private sector.

What about all of the government sector unions we have now?

With the government, Management and the Union are on the same side. There’s no bankrupting the tax payer (at least in their view), and management has no reason to oppose the union on anything.

As someone on the thread has observed, unions are thuggery. I can’t imagine anything worse than Government thugs.

Fear for the Republic!

[hal ogen]

To all of those affected by this closure who voted for nobama & his LIB minions who lost their jobs...Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

[usconservative]

ROFLMFAO