Oh my God! I just got bad news....

[Psychopete]

8% cut for 18 some thousand employees makes a lot of the higher ups salary seem like peanuts. if the company can't make ends meet, then it is what it is. I can't blame them, costs all around are increasing. My girlfriend grocery shops for us; I looked at the receipt the other day and about crapped myself how much more stuff is versus 5 years ago. Hard when you'll lose sales if you increase price, yet gas and ingredients are going up along with energy, which cost of living goes up (higher employee thru the union), and boom - there's just not enough revenue to sustain the company.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Yea hard situation but that's why they have highly paid people at the top to solve problems. They aren't the first to fever problems such as these. Not saying the union thing didn't contribute saying they probably aren't completely at fault.

They were the ones that called a strike on a struggling company, they are the ones that pulled the trigger and finished off the company. There is no arguing that.

IMO I would rather take a pay cut than unemployment with 18k other people.

 

[jchammbone]

am disappointed too

First off I want to say that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and beliefs.
That said, I can say that I am/was a union member at our local Dolly Madison/Hostess bakery ..21 years. Went on strike/honored the strike not because of the silly 8% pay reduction nor the increase of our insurance coverage [$34 week vs $75 week for family of 4] but the upper management decided not to pay our pensions. That money was part of our pay raise that we comp. and union agreed to set aside for employee pensions years and years ago. Now that money isn't there. I was looking forward to "retiring" when I turned 51. Now who wouldnt like that?? but now it wont happen. I wont lay the blame like others will but when you give yourself and your close assistants pay raises and bonuses [900k to 3.2 mil.] one day then 6 months later decide your company, that your are in control of, isnt making profit anymore, you file bankruptcy papers and blame it on your workers. I can only wonder.
Yes i also blame our union for not striking the day the comp decided that they wanted to quit paying our pensions and *allegedly* use that money to keep running. But the powers that be said we needed them as much as they needed us. So we waited and waited and waited....15 months later still no direction. So we decided to play our last card.

So we may have lost, maybe not. Time will tell. I for one find it like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

off to Mcd's to see if they hiring or not. make more money an hour there now anyways. Peace out !!

 

[martin]

Simple solution: learn to cook. For a small amount of work you will get better quality for a fraction of the price.

 

[naford]

I heard that Hostess was owned by venture capitalists. They had bought them several years ago. If you read the article in Rolling Stone magazine about venture capitalists you'll see how a company can fail. Also I don't think the guys at the top took a pay or benefit cut.

 

[Tominator]

Though there is no doubt the poor economy put it under finally and any union that strikes is just asking for unemployment, Hostess has been in trouble for many years.

I'd be blaming the union for most of the problems including the pension...

Many Teamsters took a lot more pay/benefit cuts that these yokels to keep YRC in business!

 

[adsm08]

See, I told you guys unions were evil. Told you told you told you.

 

[Mark_88]

Onions are not evil...garlic are...

I was a Steel Worker in the Union many years ago...they wanted to strike for more money (we were making $25+++ at the time) and I said "take a look at the world around us...we are making twice what most people are making and if we don't give a little, we are going to loose plenty..."

A year later the company folded and laid off workers over the course of another year or two...

The Union president came to one or our meetings and practically begged us to agree to a slight wage cut...to a chorus of Booos, he walked out...

Steel could be had from China at nearly half the cost of what we were producing...did our loyal customers hold out and pay our outrageous prices? No...they dumped us for the cheaper price (and quality)...we made steel for just about every major builder in north america...military steel for General Dynamics...steel for ocean ships (6" thick or better) and steel for the mining industry...

All it would have taken was a bit of giving...

 

[gjm4l]

Such a bummer for a tub like me I love twinkies. Blame the union. "We want more" from the union to the company saying we gotta do it or die. 18k people out of work. Wait we didn't get what we wanted????? Unions have been obsolete for years. They were incredibly necessary back in the day when books like the jungle came out and people were lined up wanting work so even if you lost 20 workers in a day there were twice that wanting the job. No wonder companies are running overseas. Sad day when it's cheaper to have stuff made elsewhere and shipped back than to make it right here to sell right here...... Don't worry we're almost back to people being lined up at businesses looking for work. Oh wait nobody wants to work for a living anymore, most are waiting to be taken care of by "Big Brother", forget I said anything.

What a shame.

 

[Tominator]

18k people out of work.

Probably another 3 to 4K that serviced the plants....mostly union as well. Vending machine people. Truck drivers.....bottled gas to raw material....who supplied the grain...farmers...

OMG!

I've never had a DEEP FRIED TWINKIE!

And now I never will...

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Don't know much about unions since there are none where I live....but any smart company would adapt and succeed...blaming the union entirely is wrong. The company was probably run wrong for years. No one else to blame but the people running the company.

You are entirely right the company should have got rid of the union then they would still be in business If obama wants everyone to pay their fair share how come unions are tax exempt. They suck hundreds of billions yearly out of the system and give nothing in return. Except to line the pockets of polititions.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I was a union employee with the State, and wouldn't have done the job if I wasn't. But our concerns centered more around officer safety and conditions, and of course, we wanted a small cost of living increase for each year.

However, there was a big plant where I grew up, and I saw it permanently shut down after it's workers went on strike for a long time. Sometimes there's a fine line between getting what you deserve, getting what you want, and cutting your own throat.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Five more years of payments, and these kids will be mine!!
Hey Jim you got those kids paid for yet.

 

[Tominator]

Ok....there is, and has to be a median.

Unions are not necessarily "evil" or even unnecessary!

Many management styles are centered around union participation and there are still many union companys in the 'free market' that do not just compete but excel[make a profit] at what they do.

The problem is that unions are unable to adapt to a changeing economy. A DYNAMIC economy that tries to make money by doing a task, defined in many ways, more economically..that is more profit.

Investors DEMAND profit! VERY few corporations can subsist on internal cash! The investment in any said compamy must yield a profit/return on investment, or that money disappears to be invested where it CAN make money.

Up until now this is how the economy has grown and tax revenues have as well.....Bush's "tax cuts", now set to expire caused RECORD tax revenue! The problem was that he and the congress spent it all.

Now, the unions have for decades sided with socialists/communists, environmentalists, the anti-nuke crowd, anti-gun crowd, anti freedom of movement crowd and the various organisations that what to control your personal life.....and the typical union man must make decisions. We, as I am union, have been lied to so much it is pathetic!

BTW, the Democrat Party harbors so much anti-Christian sentiment they make the typical Christian look like a sheep when it comes to controlling ones personal life. Facets within the party DEMAND change regardless of what the populace wants....and they are getting it!

There are literally MILLIONS of laws written into federal and state statutes that favor union participation. The government is unable and with Obama as president, unwilling to negoiate many of these mandated rules and regulations to adapt to a DYNAMIC and changeing economy that now encompasses the globe. Look at the mess Greece, Germany, France and Spain is in!

The United States, with Obama, is going down the road that has been proven so damn wrong by Europe!

If the attitude of the unions do not change, Hostess will be only the first great American Marque to fail during Obama's 2nd reign......how many union staffed bailouts can the US afford? But of course the unon leadeship will not change their course. Hoffa lives in luxury and rarely shows his fat face in public.....most union pensions are so underfunded it is pathetic! The unions have no answers and you'd be so very surprised how many are registered Republicans!

There are no easy answers, but I do know one thing. Today's political climate is so bad that most of us will never see the prosperity that folks just a generation ago hoped to acheive and many did! More government will see that FEWER and FEWER will ever see what used to be "The American Dream!"

 

[Jim Oaks]

Five more years of payments, and these kids will be mine!!
Hey Jim you got those kids paid for yet.

Nah, one is 17 & 4 months, and the other is 15 & 6 months. Getting close though.

Once my 17 year old graduates and turns 18, I won't have child support, but then she's off to college. College wouldn't be so bad because she's going to go here in Ohio, but she wants to live on the main campus, instead of going to a local branch, which drives up the cost.