No more Twinkies?

[grammafreddy]

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/no-more ... -1C7073316

No more Twinkies? Strike may do in Hostess


Hostess Brands - the maker of Twinkies, Wonder Bread and other household-name products - said it would seek this week to liquidate the company unless enough workers stopped striking by the end of the workday on Thursday to allow the company to resume normal operations.
Image: Paul J. Richards / AFP - Getty Images

Hostess - makers of Twinkies - filed for bankruptcy in January and is threatening to liquidate because of labor unrest.

Members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike Nov. 9 in response to court-approved pay cuts. The company, which has about 18,000 employees, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January.

Hostess said it would file a motion with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., Friday to close shop and sell its assets if enough employees do not return to work by 5 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. If the motion is granted, Hostess would begin to close its operations as soon as Nov. 20.

Hostess Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn said the company did not have the financial wherewithal to weather an ongoing strike. A union spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=8882511

No more Twinkies? Hostess workers strike
Monday, November 12, 2012
Michelle Gallardo
More: Bio, News Team

November 12, 2012 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Hostess says it is closing three bakeries around the country as some of its workers go on strike.

It seems hard to believe that products many of us grew up with could go away. But that's exactly what Hostess says will happen, sooner rather than later, unless its bakers go back to work.

In the Chicago area, some Hostess workers who remain on the job say they support their colleagues across the country.

Hostess has three plants in Illinois. Only the Peoria facility is officially on strike.

Could this be the end of the Twinkie and the Ho-Ho?

"I'm pretty sure they'll go under," said Hostess baker Melvin Davis. "If people don't go back to work, they'll go under."

At both the Hodgkins and Schiller Park plants, where Hostess's iconic products are made, bakers are not on strike, but they honored others' decision to strike, effectively shutting down production of Hostess products in the state.

Nationally, the strike has affected at least 23 of Hostess's 36 plants.

Monday, Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn said it may be the end of the line for the company.

"We're talking days, not weeks," Rayburn said. "At this stage, at the level they are striking, I don't think the company will survive beyond a week unless these employees decide they want to hold on to their jobs and come back to work."

Hostess filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January. This is the second time the company has done so in the last eight years.

Since January, most of the union's representing Hostess employees have voted to authorize strikes.

The walkout came after the company unilaterally imposed an 8 percent pay cut, as well as cuts in their benefits.

Melvin Davis has been a Hostess baker for 45 years.

"I could go any day. I've got my time in, but it will hurt many people," said Davis.

In Illinois, Hostess employs close to 1,400 workers.

Over 800 work at the Schiller Park and Hodgkins plants.

"We might not have no jobs, but you do what you think is right. So we do what we think is right for us," Davis said.

The first layoffs have already happened. Monday, plant closures in Seattle, St. Louis and Cincinnati were announced.

"It's a very sad situation for employees and their families, because the bakers represent only a third of our employee total," said Rayburn. "You're talking 18,500 employees total added to the 23 million people in this country."

Monday's closures affect about 600 employees.

Hostess says they have enough workers crossing picket lines at about half the affected plants to maintain operations and continue distribution -- at least for now.

(Copyright ©2012 WLS-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

[grammafreddy]

"We might not have no jobs, but you do what you think is right. So we do what we think is right for us," Davis said.

The first layoffs have already happened. Monday, plant closures in Seattle, St. Louis and Cincinnati were announced.

"It's a very sad situation for employees and their families, because the bakers represent only a third of our employee total," said Rayburn. "You're talking 18,500 employees total added to the 23 million people in this country."

18,000 jobs lost in a very poor US economy ... but those bakery unionists will "do what's right for us", even though they only represent about a third of the Hostess workers.

[averagejoe]

I've been reading about a lot about companies closing down because of the re-election of Obama and also going to a 29 hour work week so they can opt out of Obamacare.

[grammafreddy]

This story appears to be more about the bakers' union demands when the Hostess company has already said they cannot afford what they want and had already filed for bankruptcy once before and is too close to doing it again. On the radio there was something about the workers' pension plan being an issue as well as wage increases. Those loverly pension plans can sure kill off a business.

[AllthatFunk]

I've been reading about a lot about companies closing down because of the re-election of Obama and also going to a 29 hour work week so they can opt out of Obamacare.

Sounds like something thats been going on in Canada for years. Shorter hours, more part-timers, less/no benefits makes big corporations even richer.

[grammafreddy]

Soooooooooooo ....

If a company folds its tent and goes away, do those workers still get strike pay when there's no company left to strike at?

If a company folds its tent and goes away, do those company workers still get their pensions or any part of them that they have contributed to over their years with the company?

Is no job at all any better than what they have now? How many families can survive on "principles" these days?

[GordonH]

Who actually eats this crap.........

[averagejoe]

I've been reading about a lot about companies closing down because of the re-election of Obama and also going to a 29 hour work week so they can opt out of Obamacare.

Sounds like something thats been going on in Canada for years. Shorter hours, more part-timers, less/no benefits makes big corporations even richer.

Absolutely!

[grammafreddy]

So can anyone answer my questions?

[averagejoe]

Soooooooooooo ....

If a company folds its tent and goes away, do those workers still get strike pay when there's no company left to strike at?

If a company folds its tent and goes away, do those company workers still get their pensions or any part of them that they have contributed to over their years with the company?

Is no job at all any better than what they have now? How many families can survive on "principles" these days?

Great question! What does happen to workers pensions after those years of paying into it?

[GrooveTunes]

Chapter 11 doesn't usually affect a persons pension in the USA. Health Care part is different. You can be cut off of that anytime from what I understand.

http://www.mydollarplan.com/what-happens-to-your-pension-when-the-company-goes-bankrupt/

[Gone_Fishin]

Another example of the good old union mentality - we'd rather lose our jobs forever than work with our employer to ensure that the operation remains viable in a challenging economy. Extinction of these dinosaurs is occuring faster and faster as unions cling to old, failed ideology to the detriment of both workers and their employers. It just can't happen fast enough that these destructive unions are wiped off the map.

[Fancy]

How is Hostess benefiting and getting richer if they have to close their doors? Why wouldn't the workers try to find a viable solution even if short term to ensure the company's security and their own jobs? They aren't benefiting anyone - not their employer, their families or the economy.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/16/ho ... -liquidate

Hostess had already reached an agreement on pay and benefit cuts with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, its largest union.

[grammafreddy]

Looks like they pulled the plug ...

http://www.castanet.net/news/Business/8 ... er-is-dead

Ding Dong the Twinkie maker is dead
by The Canadian Press - Story: 83322
Nov 16, 2012 / 6:32 am

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
A Wonder Bread truck pulls out of the Utah Hostess plant in Ogden, Utah, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. Hostess Brands Inc. said it likely won't make an announcement until Friday morning on whether it will move to liquidate its business, after the company had set a Thursday deadline for striking employees to return to work. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Hostess Brands says it is going out of business, closing U.S. plants that make Twinkies and Wonder Bread and laying off all of its 18,500 workers.

The Irving, Texas, company says a nationwide worker strike crippled its ability to make and deliver its products at several locations.

Hostess had warned employees that it would file a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to unwind its business and sell assets if plant operations didn't return to normal levels by Thursday evening.

The privately held company filed for Chapter 11 protection in January, its second trip through bankruptcy court in less than a decade.

"Many people have worked incredibly long and hard to keep this from happening, but now Hostess Brands has no other alternative than to begin the process of winding down and preparing for the sale of our iconic brands," CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said in a letter to employees posted on the company website.

He added that all employees will eventually lose their jobs, "some sooner than others."

Hostess Brands has bakery operations across the United States but several of its brands are made for the Canadian market by other companies.

George Weston Ltd. of Toronto (TSX:WN) counts Wonder Bread among its brands while Montreal-based Saputo has rights to the Hostess brand but doesn't include Twinkies among its current lineup of snack cakes.

Thousands of members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike last week after rejecting in September a contract offer that cut wages and benefits. Hostess said Friday the company is unprofitable "under its current cost structure, much of which is determined by union wages and pension costs."

[xjeepguy]

I bet there were a lot of stunned looks this morning , they probably thought Hostess was bluffing .