Twinkies Return, Hostess Unions Won't

R

RockX

Banned
The bankrupt assets of Hostess Brands, Inc., the company responsible for Twinkies, Ho Ho's, Sno Balls and Ding Dongs, are being put back to work by a buyout firm. What's not being put back to work are the former Hostess unionized employees.


The unionized workers had been on strike when the company folded late last year.


The company had imposed a contract that would cut its 19,000 workers' wages — 15,000 of whom belonged to the workers from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) — by 8 percent. (The Teamsters was Hostess' largest union, followed by BCTGM.) The contract would have also cut benefits by 27 to 32 percent.


Hostess filed for Chapter 11 in January 2012. In November 2012, the company announced it would be shutting its doors for good. By that time, it had lost about $1.1 billion, largely due to bankruptcy filings.


But last month Apollo Global Management, LLC, and Metropoulos & Co., which owns Pabst Blue Ribbon and Vlasic pickles, bought the 83-year-old company for $410 million, renaming it Hostess Brands LLC. It is planning to re-open four bakeries over the next two and a half months, in Columbus, Ga.; Emporia, Kan.; Schiller Park, Ill.; and Indianapolis. It is also contemplating a fifth in Los Angeles.


According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, C. Dean Metropoulos, the company's chief executive, said that between now and September, he plans to inject $60 million in capital investments into the plants, and hopes to hire at least 1,500 workers.


But those workers won't be unionized.

http://gma.yahoo.com/twinkies-return-hostess-unions-wont-030833930--abc-news-money.html


:awesome:

images
 
RazorX said:
The bankrupt assets of Hostess Brands, Inc., the company responsible for Twinkies, Ho Ho's, Sno Balls and Ding Dongs, are being put back to work by a buyout firm. What's not being put back to work are the former Hostess unionized employees.


The unionized workers had been on strike when the company folded late last year.


The company had imposed a contract that would cut its 19,000 workers' wages — 15,000 of whom belonged to the workers from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) — by 8 percent. (The Teamsters was Hostess' largest union, followed by BCTGM.) The contract would have also cut benefits by 27 to 32 percent.


Hostess filed for Chapter 11 in January 2012. In November 2012, the company announced it would be shutting its doors for good. By that time, it had lost about $1.1 billion, largely due to bankruptcy filings.


But last month Apollo Global Management, LLC, and Metropoulos & Co., which owns Pabst Blue Ribbon and Vlasic pickles, bought the 83-year-old company for $410 million, renaming it Hostess Brands LLC. It is planning to re-open four bakeries over the next two and a half months, in Columbus, Ga.; Emporia, Kan.; Schiller Park, Ill.; and Indianapolis. It is also contemplating a fifth in Los Angeles.


According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, C. Dean Metropoulos, the company's chief executive, said that between now and September, he plans to inject $60 million in capital investments into the plants, and hopes to hire at least 1,500 workers.


But those workers won't be unionized.

http://gma.yahoo.com/twinkies-return-hostess-unions-wont-030833930--abc-news-money.html


:awesome:

images
Click to expand...

They're toast.
That really buttered their buns
HO-HO
 
Great...now we can subsidize yet another company with our tax dollars. We get to provide food stamps for Hostess now....yay!
 
The company was required by law to negotiate with the union before liquidating (it initially wanted to go to bankruptcy without consulting the union, a court had to force its hand), and it poisoned the well by offering an absurdly bad deal, and so got what it wanted. The workers had already accepted massive paycuts back in 2005. One worker, for instance, went from 48k to 34k, and would've been making 25k after that offer. That's -48% over 10 years. Using inflation adjusted 2005 dollars, he's effectively making 48k/21k = -57%*.

If your boss came into your office and told you he was giving you a 57% paycut, you wouldn't quit? Why is this expected of no one but unions? Some of these guys have been working for decades - to come out making 25k? That's low even for unskilled labor with no experience. It would not at all be difficult find another job that pays better than that. What is expected of these guys? To work at below market rates to support the company? It makes sense to reject the deal. If they're laid off, they get unemployment insurance, and don't have to job-hunt while working full time.

*Rather quaint, I know, to mention inflation adjustment and wages in the same breath, as if that were even a realistic possibility or desirable concept in this brave new world the conservatives have built over the past 30 years. If wages keep up with inflation, how can their CEO's next bonus exceed inflation? "What will you call for next, a command economy?" But still.
 
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No Face said:
The company was required by law to negotiate with the union before liquidating (it initially wanted to go to bankruptcy without consulting the union, a court had to force its hand), and it poisoned the well by offering an absurdly bad deal, and so got what it wanted. The workers had already accepted massive paycuts back in 2005. One worker, for instance, went from 48k to 34k, and would've been making 25k after that offer. That's -48% over 10 years. Using inflation adjusted 2005 dollars, he's effectively making 48k/21k = -57%*.

If your boss came into your office and told you he was giving you a 57% paycut, you wouldn't quit? Why is this expected of no one but unions? Some of these guys have been working for decades - to come out making 25k? That's low even for unskilled labor with no experience. It would not at all be difficult find another job that pays better than that. What is expected of these guys? To work at below market rates to support the company? It makes sense to reject the deal. If they're laid off, they get unemployment insurance, and don't have to job-hunt while working full time.

*Rather quaint, I know, to mention inflation adjustment and wages in the same breath, as if that were even a realistic possibility or desirable concept in this brave new world the conservatives have built over the past 30 years. If wages keep up with inflation, how can their CEO's next bonus exceed inflation? "What will you call for next, a command economy?" But still.
Click to expand...

The business now has a non unionized work force. Win win in my book. Now the business can move towards profitability without the scum sucking unions dragging them down
 
No Face said:
The company was required by law to negotiate with the union before liquidating (it initially wanted to go to bankruptcy without consulting the union, a court had to force its hand), and it poisoned the well by offering an absurdly bad deal, and so got what it wanted. The workers had already accepted massive paycuts back in 2005. One worker, for instance, went from 48k to 34k, and would've been making 25k after that offer. That's -48% over 10 years. Using inflation adjusted 2005 dollars, he's effectively making 48k/21k = -57%*.

If your boss came into your office and told you he was giving you a 57% paycut, you wouldn't quit? Why is this expected of no one but unions? Some of these guys have been working for decades - to come out making 25k? That's low even for unskilled labor with no experience. It would not at all be difficult find another job that pays better than that. What is expected of these guys? To work at below market rates to support the company? It makes sense to reject the deal. If they're laid off, they get unemployment insurance, and don't have to job-hunt while working full time.

*Rather quaint, I know, to mention inflation adjustment and wages in the same breath, as if that were even a realistic possibility or desirable concept in this brave new world the conservatives have built over the past 30 years. If wages keep up with inflation, how can their CEO's next bonus exceed inflation? "What will you call for next, a command economy?" But still.
Click to expand...

BTW, Ben BernanQE says there is no inflation so does B. Hussein Yobabymama
 
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