Posted on 11/20/2012 7:01:36 PM PST by Jean S
Hostess Brands Inc. lived to die another day.
The maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs said late Tuesday that it failed to reach an agreement with its second biggest union. As a result, Hostess plans to continue with a hearing on Wednesday in which a bankruptcy court judge will decide if the company can shutter its operations.
The renewed talks between Hostess and The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union came after the company declared last week that it would move to wind down its business and start selling off its assets in bankruptcy court. The company cited a crippling strike that was started on Nov. 9 by the union, which represents 30 percent of Hostess workers.
After making its case to liquidate on Monday, the bankruptcy judge hearing the case noted that the two sides hadn't yet tried resolving their differences through private mediation. The judge noted that 18,000 jobs were on the line and urged the company and union to try to resolve their differences. Both sides agreed to hold mediation proceedings on Tuesday.
In a statement late Tuesday, Hostess said it would not comment on the breakdown in talks other than to say that mediation "was unsuccessful."
Hostess shut down its three dozen plants late last week after it said the strike by the bakers union hurt its ability to maintain normal production. The bakers union says the company's demise was the result of years of mismanagement, however, and that workers have already given steep concessions over the years.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjstar.com ...
And we thought the government couldn’t force us to participate in the market economy either.
In the Obamugabe era, the bankruptcy court will do as told. I’ll be very surprised if Hostess closes.
So the union would rather that it’s members be out of jobs completely than have jobs with a paycut? Especially in this economy?
I,d like to take this time to wish all of you union thugs and your famalies a very Mary Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.
The dons of the union crime families make the decisions, and they still have their jobs. They couldn’t care less about the actual workers.
It is inevitable they close...
Most people don’t eat that crap.
It is overpriced and devoid of nutrition.
A lot of the baked goods market is falling into the abyss because of dietary changes.
Some judge ordering them to stay in business won’t change a thing.
We are at political and cultural war with these people and we have to use every tactic in the book to expose them. Please, no more Mr. Nice Guy, kick them in the teeth instead! Figuratively speaking of course...
What’s needed is to give the workers the option of de-certifying the union by secret ballot, and just going back to work.
Don’t worry... as long as we have politicians in this country we will never run out of Ding Dongs!
A WSJ editorial today claimed that human resources costs for the bakers are not out-of-wack at Hostess, and not the big operartions cost factor sapping Hostess revenue as much as the work rules of the Teamsters Union (requires anyone BUT NOT the driver be part of loading a truck and some products cannot be assigned to the same trucks - increasing how many employees and how many truck routes it takes to get Hostess products distributed). And the Teamsters accepted their agreement with Hostess, but that agreement did not much change those work rules (Hostess couldn’t get ‘em changed), leaving only the bakers compensation on the table.
It was also said that most of Hostess Teamsters Union drivers were not altogether worried about a Hostess total failure - that union seniority would get them bumped (over existing or new drivers) into Teamsters driver jobs in other companies with Teamsters contracts, while such prospects were not as likely for the bakers.
I am not saying the WSJ oped has the whole story, but that it does present the whole story with information not given much play when “blaming the bakers union” was the only story. I think the real issues are more complex than that.
Actually we place a fixed amount of sugar that can be imported into the U.S. That is a quota not a tariff.
If we had a tariff on sugar, the US government would collect the tariff (tax). As it is, the people who own the quota benefit; they sell their sugar to us for at least double the world price.
UNION VICTORY:
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/11/16/business/maines-striking-hostess-workers-say-companys-collapse-a-strong-message-of-union-resolve/
UNION VICTORY:
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/11/16/business/maines-striking-hostess-workers-say-companys-collapse-a-strong-message-of-union-resolve/
I guess the Twinkie dies as a result of, YET ANOTHER, demand for employer-paid PET HEALTH INSURANCE. Unions Suck.
I wonder about that. The national obesity rate is still rising. Perhaps folks are switching to other high calorie foods disguised as "healthy choice."
Thanks for explaining that. I guess Opium works in a similar way.
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