Posted on 11/16/2012 2:14:27 PM PST by tobyhill
Several former workers at a Hostess Brands plant in Rocky Mount said Friday they were relieved after the company filed for bankruptcy, seeking to close its operations.
The closings will mean the loss of about 18,500 jobs overall.
“They’ve been holding this over our head for a long time and now it’s here,” said Lamont Phillips, an oven operator and the president of the local union. “They had to do it.
“I don’t have to deal with that anymore. The things that they were trying to do to us, it wasn’t fair.
“They always hold that over our heads, that they’ll close it down. So, I’m like, ‘OK. Close it down.’”
And on Friday, Hostess did. The flag at a Hostess plant in Rocky Mount hung at half staff on Friday afternoon, and many former workers there hung around outside to talk about what had happened.
Hostess had offered an 8 percent pay cut, but Phllips said that wasn’t going to work for the employees.
“We’re not making a whole lot of money out here and then we got to take a pay cut like that. Then you got your health benefits going up,” he said. “They stopped paying into the pension fund. ….
(Excerpt) Read more at 2.nbc17.com ...
“Market Basket is the best of the whole lot of them. They are in MA, NH & RI. Great prices. Just as cheap as SuperWalmart.”
I live in Texas. We have H.E.B. Regional supermarket chain.
They’re based here in Texas so I shop there.
I avoid Walmart the same way I’d avoid jail.
They thought this strike was the greatest thing since sliced bread...
I have a summer place in central NH....so the Walmarts I shop in up this way are clean & safe unlike some of their stores. Lol, I’m using the Dollar Tree more & more these days in the Obama economy.
My completely uneducated guess from what I’ve read? It was a pretty good mix of poor management and heavy handed unions. Bottom line is, companies fail all the time for a multitude of reasons. If there was a chance to save this and these 5,000 employees refused because they didn’t like the terms then they are free to fully embrace their unemployment. Problem is, they took 13,500 others down with them.
“I have a summer place in central NH....so the Walmarts I shop in up this way are clean & safe unlike some of their stores. Lol, I’m using the Dollar Tree more & more these days in the Obama economy.”
Like I said, I’m in Texas. Walmarts are to be avoided at all costs lol.
I’ve never been to NH. I hear it’s cold haha.
Prediction: Someone buys the name and rights to the product formulas and distribution system, then re-tools with a totally robotic baking and packaging system. Twinkies will be back, but they will no longer carry the union label.
Even though I am on the Atkins Diet, I will celebrate with one of those new Twinkies when it comes out.
I say economy too; they were premium brands which get consumed more during flush times and less during lean times.
Agreed. Unions often only hold people back, providing a disproportionate salary for the low skill level (often) involved. Then when the union runs the company into the ground the employees aren’t qualified to do anything else.
Yep, unions protect workers!!! </s>
“My completely uneducated guess from what I’ve read? It was a pretty good mix of poor management and heavy handed unions. Bottom line is, companies fail all the time for a multitude of reasons. If there was a chance to save this and these 5,000 employees refused because they didn’t like the terms then they are free to fully embrace their unemployment. Problem is, they took 13,500 others down with them.”
It probably was a mix of things. I wonder though if the execs took a paycut. As somebody who worked for an hourly wage, I have to say asking the common laborers to take a cut while the exec packages stay the same would make not care one way or another.
Kind of the equivalent of walking out on a burger flipping job.
Well, it’s cold in the dead of winter, but all week here it’s been in the 50s during the day. It’s not as bad as people think, but I’m used to it. I’ve been in the northeast all my life. Central NH is a rural & stable area. Very little crime & no immigrants. So the Walmarts, and for that matter most any other store is safe & clean.
Hostess was a premium brand which fell out of relative favor during these tough times, with decent, close generics being easily had at the Wally World and other emporia.
If I were looking for a way to improve snack cakes it would be to come up with a near foolproof way to stop them sticking to the wrapper so bad that a layer peels off when unwrapping them.
Demond Wilson? I always wondered what happened to that guy. He wasn’t much of an actor IMHO, but was a perfect foil for Redd Foxx.
“Well, it’s cold in the dead of winter, but all week here it’s been in the 50s during the day. It’s not as bad as people think, but I’m used to it. I’ve been in the northeast all my life. Central NH is a rural & stable area. Very little crime & no immigrants. So the Walmarts, and for that matter most any other store is safe & clean.”
I’ve been to Vermont and NH is on my to do list. Just not until June lol.
The country is beautiful and all the people I met were the tops. Same can be said for rural NY state.
As someone who has never had anything but an hourly wage, nor has my husband, I disagree with that. We all want more but reality dictates otherwise many times. I cannot and will not blame the executives for their wages when they are the ones that assume all the risk. We go home at five (or whatever shift you work) and tend to our own lives, they do not. I don’t want their responsibility so I don’t warrant their pay.
“Hostess was a premium brand which fell out of relative favor during these tough times, with decent, close generics being easily had at the Wally World and other emporia.
If I were looking for a way to improve snack cakes it would be to come up with a near foolproof way to stop them sticking to the wrapper so bad that a layer peels off when unwrapping them.”
If you figure that out....you’ll make a million dollars lol.
I can live with the wrapper stickage....the petroleum taste....not so much lol.
Seriously I have to think that healthier diet awareness played a part. Didn’t Krispy Kreme take a major hit a few years ago?
Isn’t that what happens when you start getting old?
Yes....lot’s of great people in northern New England & upper NY. Not a lot of good jobs up this way, a bit difficult to make a living, but it’s still a nice lifestyle. I live in Mass, but I’m going to retire up here in central NH when the time comes. This part of the country still looks like the areas I grew up in back in the 70s. Best thing is there is no traffic in the off-season & yet I’m still just 2 hours to Boston if I need to get down there quick.
Petroleum taste? Why, that’s only the very best of hyper-aerated hydrogenated cottonseed oil!
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