Hostess is Toast

[S. C.]

And when hostess starts a new company, with a new name, and hires workers at half the pay with no benefits, I will never buy a product from them.
It would be different if CEO's all made wage and benefit cuts too.

 

[donaldlovesdaisy]

And when hostess starts a new company, with a new name, and hires workers at half the pay with no benefits, I will never buy a product from them.
It would be different if CEO's all made wage and benefit cuts too.

But plenty of people will! I know I will just to spite those who won't!

 

[Art 1]

And when hostess starts a new company, with a new name, and hires workers at half the pay with no benefits, I will never buy a product from them.
It would be different if CEO's all made wage and benefit cuts too.

Sure you will.

 

[tvguy]

Have they or will the employees lose their pension balances? I assume they had a cash value of their existing pensions.

I don't know for sure. I strongly suspect the pensions are controled by the union, not Hostess.

 

[castleview]

This is totally off topic, but why was the wrestlers being independent contractors a problem? It is a physically taxing job but most would rather be independent contractors at least until they get a big contract because they are free to jump from organization to organization.

Because the WWE has become full out entertainment, lots of dangerous "stunts" along with the wrestling are the norm. (You might remember Owen Hart falling to his death during an entrance from the rafters). Top that off with the amount of concussions and steroid related health issues that stem from wrestling, many ex-wrestlers are in poor health. Since many go into it very young, naive and desperate to make a living, they go for it. Part of Linda's platform was improving health care and her history at her company (which a lot of people had trouble with just for the turn they took years ago) made everyone a little skeptical of what she was saying.

 

[donaldlovesdaisy]

Because the WWE has become full out entertainment, lots of dangerous "stunts" along with the wrestling are the norm. (You might remember Owen Hart falling to his death during an entrance from the rafters). Top that off with the amount of concussions and steroid related health issues that stem from wrestling, many ex-wrestlers are in poor health. Since many go into it very young, naive and desperate to make a living, they go for it. Part of Linda's platform was improving health care and her history at her company (which a lot of people had trouble with just for the turn they took years ago) made everyone a little skeptical of what she was saying.

But no one is making them become wrestlers and I am pretty sure their salaries are enough to buy health insurance. I wonder how many of those professional wrestles live lavishly. I just don't get the idea that your employer should be responsible for providing you with insurance. It should up to them just like it is up to you to work for a company that may or may not provide the benefits you want.

 

[maxiesmom]

While you don't like to see people lose their jobs, sometimes they have no one but themselves to blame for that. As a company, Hostess was in trouble. The union workers knew that, but instead of working with Hostess to try and work out a deal that would help keep Hostess open and keep people in jobs, they didn't so now there are no jobs, instead of a number of jobs at a lesser wage.

I just don't get why people have a hard time understanding, a little of something is a whole lot better than nothing.

A friend of mine's dad worked for Hostess. Most Hostess workers had already taken pay cuts over the last couple of years. And the majority of them gave up even more this year! Most plants had already made more concessions, it was only a few plants that went on strike. So don't try and say they are all to blame for the company folding. It was in reality a few of them who decided to be stubborn. And everyone who worked for Hostess (even those who had already made concessions) lost their jobs.

 

[furb & dez]

There may not be other jobs 5 minutes from your house, next to mom, in your hometown, in your state or on your coast but there are other jobs.

Exactly. I've no sympathy for idjits sitting around waiting for a job to fall in their lap to keep them in the life they've been accustomed to. If there's nothing in your area... MOVE! It may be difficult but it will probably be worth it. No excuses.

 

[timmac]

One of my good friends will only work as an independent I.T contractor. He's not only turned down some very good job offers because they could never pay as much as he pulls in managing the infrastructure for a lot of companies but he resigned as CIO of a multinational company to become a contractor. In my field of work this isn't exactly uncommon either.

I'm in the same field (or at least one that's very closely related), and can say first hand, I did the independent contractor route for about six months--and stretched things out as long as I could before becoming an employee at that company-- for exactly many of the financial and tax advantages you have mentioned. 100% agree it's

 

[timmac]

And go where, exactly?

Not just talking to you, luvmy3 but I see this so many times in these types of threads. "If you don't like the working conditions, find another job". There are no other jobs.

The existence or lack of other jobs, however, does not necessarily dictate the required labor terms of whatever jobs do exist.

Even in a worst case where there is--quite literally--no other job a person could possibly take (seems to be less than likely), they can still work on starting their own business... be a handyman, paint walls, mow lawns. No, none of those options are glamorous or very high pay, but given the complaints about where they'd be coming from, that may not be an issue.

 

[wiigirl]

 

[beachlover9395]

I'm very sorry for all the workers that are affected by this.

I had forgotten that Hostess owned the Merita bread line. I've been eating Merita Old Fashioned white loaf sandwich bread my entire life. I've tried many other breads through the years, and they just don't measure up. So selfishly, I'm going to miss it terribly.

 

[luvmy3]

The existence or lack of other jobs, however, does not necessarily dictate the required labor terms of whatever jobs do exist.

Even in a worst case where there is--quite literally--no other job a person could possibly take (seems to be less than likely), they can still work on starting their own business... be a handyman, paint walls, mow lawns. No, none of those options are glamorous or very high pay, but given the complaints about where they'd be coming from, that may not be an issue.

 

[foreUT]

I don't think it's quite that simple. I think it gave the hedge funds an excuse to liquidate the company without looking like the bad guys. The end game was always liquidation.

I doubt if the liquidation will in any way cover the debt. Because of the over saturation of the market, the plants will probably not be valuable assets. In addition, the funds just lost their 2009, $130 million investment. I am sure there are a lot of people who wished they had walked away in 2009 and still had their $. Based on the Teamster's money-man comments, the company was in dire shape, which is why they were willing to accept the cuts to retain their jobs.

 

[SaraJayne]

Local workers found out they were losing their jobs from the news. Not from their bosses or management ~ from the news.

Regardless of how you feel about unions, etc, that is pretty damn crappy. The fact they announced it to the media before they told their workers makes me think even less of them (if that is possible).

 

[manning]

Back in the 60s a big camera store in Chicago faced unionization. The owner said if you do he would go out of business and he did. The employees wanted to decertify but the union wouldn't let them. I knew someone who worked there and he said the pay wasn't bad. Just some got greedy.

Owner said they have the right to form a union and he had a right to go out of business. He moved to Florida and opened another store.

 

[foreUT]

I thought I heard on the news that this company took the money from the employees 401K ( I think that is what they said) (NOPE IT WAS PENSIONS) that they put in weekly and it is NO where....what did they do with it...they didnt put in anything and they didnt show where the money is...
To me that is stealing...
and we belonged to a union for the last 35 and a half years...they do good things and protect the workers...so I wont say anything about unions..vs non-unions...

If this is not right..please let me know ...I believe this is what I heard...

Wasn't one of the concessions to discontinue paying into the union pension funds until the company was financially able to do so again? Since the Teamsters reviewed the finances and agreed that concessions continued to be necessary, the money was not available: costs exceeded income, which is why they were again facing bankruptcy.

Pension funding is paid to the unions.

 

[mefordis]

And when hostess starts a new company, with a new name, and hires workers at half the pay with no benefits, I will never buy a product from them.
It would be different if CEO's all made wage and benefit cuts too.

I won't ever buy from them because they make garbage. Chemicals.. not real food.

 

[kidzmom3]

My brother worked for them for 27 years. He has 2 daughters in college and one in middle school. He is older than 50. He is a teamster driver and they voted to accept the deal...the bakers did not. Not sure what he is going to do.

 

[foreUT]

My brother worked for them for 27 years. He has 2 daughters in college and one in middle school. He is older than 50. He is a teamster driver and they voted to accept the deal...the bakers did not. Not sure what he is going to do.

I am sure there are a lot of former employees who wish that the BCTGM had listened to the Teamster's financial experts. My sympathies to your brother and all the others held captive by the union officials who, it is my understanding, did not permit their members to hold a secret ballot to determine whether or not to return to work.