The Day the Twinkie Died ~ 1500 strike . . . 18,500 get fired

[Tactical Dave]

Yeah, screw the unions. Boo to high wages, benefits, and pensions! We deserve the right to work for less! Well, thanks to ObamaCare, maybe they can all get two part time jobs and not worry about wages or benefits.

When you wonder why the middle class continues to shrink, consider your "screw the unions" mind set and wonder if that plays a part.

On a side note, the union makes an easy scapegoat, but Hostess already went through one bankruptcy and their current bankruptcy was filed for before the strike started. Do your own research and see where there debt lies and how their sales were going down due to a changing concerns by consumers (more health concerns, more vilification of sugar).

Yep, companies that are financially stable can handle a strike some have contingency plans for it. Some have management and contractors to do the labor during a strike... Granted production slows but stuff gets done.

I am union have also worked the mon union side before and have seen what greed can do from the union side and management side. In just about every example I put equal blame on both parties.

In our last contract is was more about loosing as little as we could. After the rise in health care we got like a 2% raise and a few other small things. There are people in other departments that we work with that have a different contract and tell us that our job is a lot more work then theirs and requires the same amount of knowledge or more. They get $10 an hour more then us and OT on anything over 8. Are we wrong for wanting to narrow that pay gap??? I don't think so.

Not all unions are greedy. United airlines union is what cost them thousands of jobs because of greed and idiotic practices but the company would also say replace a part that cost thousands instead of spending 2 hours of labor to fix it (decision made when plane was in for heavy maintenance).

People that have been union I feel can make an educated opinion. Those that have not just base their opinions on what they "hear"

 

[EvilBlackGun]

"Maybe Romney ...

.... will come galloping in to our rescue!" Is Ross Perot busy somewhere else?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONN-0uoTHI

 

[terrehautian]

Might have been posted already.
Hostess is bankrupt … again - Fortune Management

Even as it played the numbers game, Hostess had to face chaos in the corner office at the worst possible time. Driscoll, the CEO, departed suddenly and without explanation in March. It may have been that the Teamsters no longer felt it could trust him. In early February, Hostess had asked the bankruptcy judge to approve a sweet new employment deal for Driscoll. Its terms guaranteed him a base annual salary of $1.5 million, plus cash incentives and "long-term incentive" compensation of up to $2 million. If Hostess liquidated or Driscoll were fired without cause, he'd still get severance pay of $1.95 million as long as he honored a noncompete agreement.

 

[magic man]

My manager bought the last box of twinkies that we had in the store. Someone has already offered him $25 for it.

 

[printcraft]

We have (had) a Hostess thrift store in Kokomo.....

There was a line out the door yesterday afternoon that stretched to the parking lot.

No kidding.

 

[GBuck]

We have (had) a Hostess thrift store in Kokomo.....

There was a line out the door yesterday afternoon that stretched to the parking lot.

No kidding.

Maybe this is all just a marketing scheme to boost sales before Christmas.

 

[rambone]

 

[stephen87]

Good news for all of you Twinkie lovers out there. A fellow Twinkie lover has your backs.

RTV6 - Hostess to mediate with union, could prevent shut down - US/World Story

Lucky for me, I've still got my Swiss Rolls.

 

[Turn Key]

Yep, it is on the news ( Fox 59 ) right now ..

TK

 

[printcraft]

Dang. Does this mean no apocalypse?

 

[atvdave]

Good news for all of you Twinkie lovers out there. A fellow Twinkie lover has your backs.

RTV6 - Hostess to mediate with union, could prevent shut down - US/World Story

Lucky for me, I've still got my Swiss Rolls.

What about all those box's of twinkie's I paid $1000 a box for?

 

[NapalmFTW]

You should ask Wal-Mart. They've been pretty successful at it.

Of course if you listen to some of the people around here, it's because Satan himself owns Wal-Mart.

I wonder if Twinkies made in Mexico will taste the same?

My place of work (big autoparts store) is non-union. You get fired for joining one.

Our DM hates us even mentioning them.

 

[melensdad]

The unions are claiming MISMANAGEMENT.

There have been 6 management teams that have tried to make this company solvent. 6 different teams of supposedly bright, motivated, educated people. 6 different degrees of failure to manage this company into reasonable profitability and each time the union has blamed the managers.

Perhaps the union IS the problem that the management teams can overcome?

Perhaps the union should buy the company so it can self-manage the company and have nobody else to blame.

 

[pudly]

Perhaps the union should buy the company so it can self-manage the company and have nobody else to blame.

So long as they use their own money and not a taxpayer bailout like GM, go for it.

 

[GBuck]

Well, just got reported that mediation did not work and the Union would not budge. Goodbye for now, twinkies.

 

[Bunnykid68]

They will be made in Mexico by the Bimbo company I bet

 

[public servant]

 

[Tsigos]

Sounds like more corporate raiders draining the assets and over-leveraging the company asking the employees to take a haircut on their pension to pay for their largesse.

If I was promised a pension and worked many years to get it, you'd better believe I'd be pissed if someone told me that my promised pension had evaporated so that a loan used in part to pay executives' exorbitant salaries could be repaid to Bank of America and corporate insiders.

When Obi-wan told Han Solo "I'll give you $2,000 now and $17,000 when we reach Alderaan" a deal was struck. Had they arrived at Alderaan and Obi-wan told Solo "Hey, you know, about that $17,000 . . . I took out a loan from Jabba Da Hutt so that I could throw a really cool party and . . . can we just call it even at $5,000?" I'm sorry but that would have been BS.

Hostess offered a pension in exchange for a certain amount of work. The employees delivered that certain amount of work. Hostess tries to renegotiate after the fact.

 

[pudly]

Sounds like more corporate raiders draining the assets and over-leveraging the company asking the employees to take a haircut on their pension to pay for their largesse.

Easy to make such an accusation. Also easy to disprove. Haven't heard anything from the unions (who examined the books during the recent negotiations) identifying where money went to purposes other than salaries, pensions, and operations.

On the other hand, I'm sure pensions were at least part of the problem. There are examples all around us where promises of future payments for pensions turned out to be unsupportable when it came time to pay- Social Security, GM, many states, cities, etc., etc. That is why so many companies have switched from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans. The first risks bankruptcy, the latter does not.

 

[Fordtough25]

I couldn't find a single twinkie around here yesturday, so sad.