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 ...
Oh don’t worry. Others will. They will sell the brands to other companies who will then hire non-union bakers who will then make a better Twinkie for less with happier workers and more satisfied customers.
I’m sure leftists and statists (I repeat myself) like Bloomberg are thrilled by the demise of Hostess. Given time, they would have regulated such non-nutritious snacks out of existence anyway. Twinkies are the devil!
This kind of crap happens a lot. Hawaiians - arguably the laziest state in the US - did something like this in the early 90s. At that time sugar was under intense international pressure. The main sugar refinery on the south end of the big island opened it's books to the workers and showed them that if they didn't take a pay cut the company would go under. The workers voted NOT to take a pay cut. The company shut down. The workers lost their jobs and went on welfare. Did they learn anything? The answer was a resounding "NO."
A consortium of investors - mostly Japanese - bought a lot of shore property with the intent of making the southeast side of the big island like the hotel zone on Maui. This would have provided lots of well paying jobs. Did the Hawaiians want that? Hell no. They got their lawyers out and blocked the development claiming that it would interfere with their "native values" The investors lost their money, and the lazy aholes are still sitting around on the dole.
As long as you pay people to do nothing, that's what they're going to do.
I notice you don't appear to have a sig line.
That should change. ;)
Obamanation Communism File.
This is no fun, where’s that union-apologist from Central Virginia that always seems to pop up when we’re going after unions in the abstract?
I guess he doesn’t have much to say when they cause nearly 20,000 people to lose their jobs in one move.
I’m 68 and I certainly don’t envy you because you are eleven years younger. Sometimes I wish I had been born twenty years earlier.
Apparently not popular enough to stay in business. They were doing something wrong.
Hey, the union bosses will get their Christmas bonuses - that’s all they’ve ever cared about...
Gotta admire that they didn’t back down for the union thugs, but, oh, I’m gonna miss those Twinkies....
Done! ;-)
The Japanese management had a meeting and warned the workers not to go thru with it because they had good wages and bennies. A few dummies pushed the issue and the management closed the plant for two weeks.
They had the petition and started calling back the workers whose names were not on it. Word got around to the dummies and they relented.
Family member worked there.
Well, soon you’ll be 70.
The amazing thing about being 70 is the wisdom that seems to effortlessly flow. The source is not totally identifiable, but there is no doubt about it’s effervescence. Wisdom just bubbles up and demands to be expressed.
Relax and enjoy the present....... dispense the effervescent wisdom
Hostess workers represented by the Teamsters Union wouldn’t even particiapte in the strike. They had accepeted the new labor deal. So 5,000 bakers just cost 18,000 jobs.....and all their suppliers have lost out as well.
One of the idiots interviewed on TV said they couldn’t afford the paycut and the rise in cost of their insurance. Wonder what they think of that offer today?
Hrm - trying sig with escape code for apostrophe...
Heard some union worker quoted on CBS radio news (WSB) to the effect that they can make more on unemployment than with the company offer.
That's that entrepreneurial spirit, workers of the world! Rah rah rah!
Maybe the company that produces “Little Debbies” ?
Their product is by far the best in their niche. Their problem was price structure, and that was driven by the union.
Little Debbie sells for at least half the cost, but, imho, has half the flavor.
Despite all of that, Hostess has years of advertising and product visibility. Twinkies, HoHos, DingDongs, Zingers, etc.,...all are well-known loved products. Twinkies are an icon.
Brand recognition is high, product acceptance is high, and price structure is awful. Sounds like a good bet to me.
They’ll be bought and the union will not be part of the plan.
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.