Twilight for Twinkies? Hostess Workers Strike as Company Struggles

didymus · #1 Nov 13, '12, 12:57 am

Quote:

Twilight for Twinkies? Hostess Workers Strike as Company Struggles

Bankrupt Hostess Brands Inc., makers of iconic snack treat Twinkies, has been paralyzed by workers' striking over diminished health benefits and longer work days.
Striking workers formed a picket line at the company's Sacramento, Calif., plant Sunday, two days after the walkout began when the company imposed a contract that would cut wages by 8 percent. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union said the contract would also cut benefits by 27 to 32 percent.
The Twinkie has become such an iconic snack food that when she was first lady, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton included it in the millennium time capsule. But Irving, Texas-based Hostess might soon be history after workers launched the strike Friday.

Hostess CEO Grey Rayburn said the faltering company cannot handle the industrial action.
"We've been very straight forward that the business can't withstand the significant work stoppage," he said. "If this strike continues, there is certainly a risk that Hostess will go out of business."

O the humanity!
I'm sure folks can find other sources of high fructose corn syrup & hydrogenated oil. Yum!

GaryTaylor · #2 Nov 13, '12, 1:03 am

America youth will never be the same without Wonder Bread, Drakes and Hostess.

Crescentinus · #3 Nov 13, '12, 1:33 am

I have little idea on what those products are seeing as they never tried to export said products to Asia. o:

Also, I thought the title was about putting Twinkies in the Twilight series.

stinkcat_14 · #4 Nov 13, '12, 2:55 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by didymus

ABC News:

O the humanity!
I'm sure folks can find other sources of high fructose corn syrup & hydrogenated oil. Yum!

I am sure the brand will not die, just the company. Some new pplace will buy the brand and the old workers will be out of luck.

MtnDwellar · #5 Nov 13, '12, 4:20 am

This story is not only about a lack of Twinkies, but also about a US company closing.

I searched for details about the contract offers and came up with nothing. I will guess that even with an 8% pay cut, the Hostess workers are still making more than the average wage.

Unions are quick to demand more when a company is profitable, but are always slow to take less when business slows down. It's a shame. The workers are striking when unemployment is high. They are probably shooting themselves in the feet.

centurionguard · #6 Nov 13, '12, 4:25 am

The Hotess snack-food company has been going down hill every since they reached No# 1 across Canada in 1980. They don't exist in Canada anymore. I thought Lays bought them out.

It sure surprised me to learn that Hotess was originally a Canadian company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostess_Potato_Chips

MugenOne · #7 Nov 13, '12, 5:08 am

Just sell to Bimbo. They seem to know how to run a successful bakery business. Of course, they would de-unionize those workers and send them to Obama's phone and food line.

**pnewton** · #8 Nov 13, '12, 5:17 am

Let them go and hire people that want to work. If this is not practical, then I guess the company management has miscalculated.

CaptFun · #9 Nov 13, '12, 5:20 am

It's SUNSET in America!

"You didn't bake that!"

... so the Twinkie workers went on STRIKE!

... but Michelle said ... " ... let them eat vegetables!"

< the last Hostess "Snowball" getting its coconut topping!

- We leave you with the cuppycake song ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfgQSiGlzAQ

lizaanne · #10 Nov 13, '12, 5:29 am

This is sad news for my family - Hostess and Wonder have been a household name for us for most of our lives. My grandfather (may he rest in peace) retired from there after 25+ years of service. I remember going to the bakery with him when I was little, and seeing the Twinkies getting filled with cream, the squiggle put on top of the cupcakes, and that AMAZING smell of fresh bread baking, and hot steaming loves on the conveyor belts running overhead through the vast assembly line building. My cousins and I got to wear little paper hats with the old Wonder Bread logo on them, with the red/blue/yellow polka dots.

Grampa would bring home boxes of fresh bread and rolls - so fresh there was still condensation on the inside of the bags. I always loved the Home Pride Butter Top Bread - YUMMMM!!!!!

It will be sad to see them go, it will truly be the end of an era.

~Liza

**Dale_M** · #11 Nov 13, '12, 5:29 am

Quote:

Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of Wonder bread and Twinkies, began permanently closing plants after it couldn’t get enough members of its striking bakery workers’ union to cross the picket lines to keep them open.

Quote:

“Sadly this action will result in the permanent closure of three facilities and the loss of 627 jobs,” Hostess Chief Executive Officer Gregory Rayburn, said in a statement.

“We will close the entire company if widespread strikes cripple our business,” Rayburn said. The strike affects 23 of Hostess’s 36 plants, the company said today. Half the affected plants are operating, the company said.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-t-cross-lines

The plants which are now permanently closed are in St. Louis, Seattle and Cincinnati

CaptFun · #12 Nov 13, '12, 5:32 am

AH that musical ode to the Twinkie ... and castigation of the hippy chic health food craze.

"Junk Food Junkie!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ--J...=results_video

**Dale_M** · #13 Nov 13, '12, 5:38 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by pnewton

Let them go and hire people that want to work. If this is not practical, then I guess the company management has miscalculated.

The company is in very bad straits.

Quote:

Back in January, Hostess Brands Inc., makers of the Twinkie and lots of other snacks (but mostly the Twinkie) declared bankruptcy. Yesterday the company finally filed its plan to get out of bankruptcy, which basically amounts to telling its equity owners, “Thanks for all the money, now go away.”

The plan, which still requires court approval, would hand 75% of the company over to a group of current lenders, with the company’s unions getting the remaining 25%.

Quote:

As for the largest equity owners in the company, who according to papers filed with the court made more than $150 million in equity and debt investments into the debtors since 2009, including $40 million invested in 2011, well, they “will suffer a complete loss and receive nothing on account of these investments.”

In total, the plan would erase somewhere between $2-2.5 billion owed to unsecured creditors. This would still leave the company with $861.5 million in secured debt.

http://consumerist.com/2012/10/11/to...ir-investment/

The company clawed its way out of bankruptcy once before, back in 2009. But it might dissolve this time.

CaptFun · #14 Nov 13, '12, 5:47 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by lizaanne

This is sad news for my family - Hostess and Wonder ...

I remember going to the bakery with him when I was little, and seeing the Twinkies getting filled with cream, the squiggle put on top of the cupcakes, and that AMAZING smell of fresh bread baking, and hot steaming loves on the conveyor belts running overhead through the vast assembly line building.

My cousins and I got to wear little paper hats with the old Wonder Bread logo on them, with the red/blue/yellow polka dots.

Grampa would bring home boxes of fresh bread and rolls - so fresh there was still condensation on the inside of the bags. I always loved the Home Pride Butter Top Bread - YUMMMM!!!!!

It will truly be the end of an era.

~Liza

AND the loss of a priceless social reference!

**Dale_M** · #15 Nov 13, '12, 5:53 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by centurionguard

The Hotess snack-food company has been going down hill every since they reached No# 1 across Canada in 1980. They don't exist in Canada anymore. I thought Lays bought them out.

It sure surprised me to learn that Hotess was originally a Canadian company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostess_Potato_Chips

I think that was a different company than produced Twinkies. That snack food was originally made by Continental Baking Company. The company was sold several times, but was never owned by General Foods, as happened to the Canadian company you mentioned.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Baking_Company

It is possible that the disappearance of the Hostess Potato Chips brand is what allowed the maker of Twinkies to rename themselves Hostess Brands a few years ago.