Do you think the people who work(ed) at Hostess...

[DaTT]

...regret going on strike? 18,000 jobs gonzo.

 

[boomerang]

Not yet. When payday comes and goes - yes. Right now the union is still pumping them full of crap. That wears off quick.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

They're a bunch of Ding Dongs. That's what they are.

 

[CraigRT]

They're a bunch of Ding Dongs. That's what they are.

Appropriate, no doubt.

 

[olds]

I drive by Wonder Bread to and from work. Going to miss the smell of baking bread.

 

[SKORPI0]

Sad to hear this. I always pass over their Hodgkins, IL(LaGrange near I-55) location on the way to Chicago. Looks like Wonder Bread is affected too.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...mission-to-liquidate-20121116,0,3175964.story

According to Becker, most of the company's employees had approved an 8 percent pay cut for the coming year, but the members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union had voted against the reduction and a change in the pension plan.
Becker stressed that lingering pension obligations and other expenses felled the company, and not demand for its products.
"Demand was never the issue," Becker said, adding that company revenue for the year-ended May 11 was $2.5 billion. "We have very loyal customers who love our products and continued to buy our products."
Hostess had given employee a deadline to return to work on Thursday, but the union held firm, saying it had already given far more in concessions than workers could bear and that it would not bend further. Union officials blamed mismanagement for the company's woes.

Can the Union be blamed from having the workers a job (with pay cut) to no job at all.

 

[bigrash]

I hope they regret it. They're some cruel, cruel people.

Yes, I'm kidding.

 

[TuxDave]

BCTGM International Union President Frank Hurt said in a statement that the company’s problems are due to failed management, and had nothing to do with the union protecting its members.

“The crisis facing Hostess Brands is the result of nearly a decade of financial and operational mismanagement that resulted in two bankruptcies, mountains of debt, declining sales and lost market share. The Wall Street investors who took over the company after the last bankruptcy attempted to resolve the mess by attacking the company’s most valuable asset – its workers,” he wrote in a public statement. “For the past eight years management of the company has been in the hands of Wall Street investors, ‘restructuring experts,’ third-tier managers from other non-baking food companies and currently a ‘liquidation specialist.’ Six CEOs in eight years, none of whom with any bread and cake baking industry experience, was the prescription for failure.”

Who do you believe? The strike killing the company or the strike offering a convenient scapegoat for the death of the company. It's hard to say.

 

[tynopik]

i think the union is betting on someone else buying the factories and hiring them all back (at a higher wage)

we'll see how that works out for them

 

[Ns1]

Who do you believe? The strike killing the company or the strike offering a convenient scapegoat for the death of the company. It's hard to say.

The long term problems are due to corporate mis-management, the fact that the company is shutting down today is due to one union.

IMO

 

[Printer Bandit]

bunch of twinks

 

[DaTT]

The long term problems are due to corporate mis-management, the fact that the company is shutting down today is due to one union.

IMO

I agree. IMO, unions do NOT server any purpose in today's workforce.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I agree. IMO, unions do NOT server any purpose in today's workforce.

That's not true, but there are plenty of specific unions out there that serve no purpose.

 

[IronWing]

Looks like the vulture capitalists have finished this carcass. 18,000 American jobs destroyed. 18,000 Amercan families on the rocks. Who's the next victim?

 

[Flacco]

They might not regret it yet. However once they start looking for new employment I'm sure they will.

 

[techs]

I think they looked at keeping their pensions and finding another job versus having their pensions gutted and going back to work for less money.

 

[IronWing]

Now I'm curious. How long do you think their goods will remain on store shelves? Their distribution model had company or contract drivers (not host store employees)stocking shelves so there isn't anyone to reclaim the goodies.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Goooo unions! Awesome timing, there...

Maybe one day people in this country will actually realize that while unions had a use 100 years ago, they need to go extinct in the modern age. My state (WA) lost jobs from Boeing due to the union.

 

[PottedMeat]

i wonder how pissed the teamsters are

 

[yuchai]

I read an article about the state of Hostess just a few months ago mentioning that they may be bankrupt again soon. It's really a combination of factors that led to it's demise.

Interesting read, but be warned that it's a long article:
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/26/hostess-twinkies-bankrupt/

 

[Harrod]

I bet a place like walmart will pick the assets up cheaply and start producing its house brand there.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Looks like the vulture UNIONS have finished this carcass. 18,000 American jobs destroyed. 18,000 Amercan families on the rocks. Who's the next victim?

fixed that for ya

 

[TechBoyJK]

i wonder how pissed the teamsters are

very. They are more at odds with the Baker's union than hostess as this point. I read an article earlier and the Teamster's rep was less than positive about the baker's union's actions.

 

[NL5]

...regret going on strike? 18,000 jobs gonzo.

At what point is a job no longer worth it? I found my breaking point. Do I regret it. Not for a second. Make a HELL of a lot more now. America is full of people without a spine. Take what you're offered and be happy with it. I can't accept that as our new reality. I'm too old school.

 

[Pantoot]

At what point is a job no longer worth it? I found my breaking point. Do I regret it. Not for a second. Make a HELL of a lot more now. America is full of people without a spine. Take what you're offered and be happy with it. I can't accept that as our new reality. I'm too old school.

So you were a man, and decided to move along, not ruin the jobs of another 18,000 people along with you.