Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: SADShooter on November 16, 2012, 10:04:29 AM
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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hostess-close-cites-nationwide-worker-123953115.html (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hostess-close-cites-nationwide-worker-123953115.html)
Hostess files for bankruptcy and will shut down all operating plants. Upshot: More than one zombie apocalypse can make those G-D Twinkies hard to find.
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Hostess, the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, plans to go out of business, lay off its 18,500 workers and sell its snack cake and bread brands.
Our economy would be ROARING right now if GM and Dodge had done the same thing rather than sucking at the teat of government money.
And the labor problems our nation faces would have been dealt a massive slap across the face.
Good for Hostess.
I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop... Hostess is "too big to fail" or has some sort of responsibility to stay open, or some other Obamish hogwash.
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Wonder what the union members think of their union now.
Michelle Obama is happy - now that people won't have Twinkies or Ding-Dongs to much on, they'll find out how tasty broccoli, asparagus, and brussles sprouts really are.
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Wonder what the union members think of their union now.
Michelle Obama is happy - now that people won't have Twinkies or Ding-Dongs to much on, they'll find out how tasty broccoli, asparagus, and brussles sprouts really are.
Nah. We'll just import Chinese-baked Twinkies with a cheaper new metallic stabilizer in the filling...
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Wonder what the union members think of their union now.
Michelle Obama is happy - now that people won't have Twinkies or Ding-Dongs to much on, they'll find out how tasty broccoli, asparagus, and brussles sprouts really are.
Fail. People on food stamps won;t buy broccoli, asparagus and brussel sprouts.
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Endtimes.
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The real reason that twinkies were so hard to find in zombieland!
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The real reason that twinkies were so hard to find in zombieland!
We already live in Zombieland.
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Wonder what the union members think of their union now.
Michelle Obama is happy - now that people won't have Twinkies or Ding-Dongs to much on, they'll find out how tasty broccoli, asparagus, and brussles sprouts really are.
I cant stand it when people wont pay attention to the program. Its schools and restaurents that cant be allowed to have junk food but its a-ok for people on welfare to buy cartloads of junk food b/c they dont have time during their busy schedule of not working and sitting on their asses. Make sure you always have a current copy of the Leftist Agenda so youre always caught up.
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Peeps are just as shelf stable but much more visible than Twinkies. Never fear, you will not run out of targets.
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Dammit. I was just getting into "10 for $10" Hostess pies. I'll have to grab what Hostess stock is left at the grocery store and add it to my apocalypse supplies. The shelf life should be longer than my life expectancy. :laugh:
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The brand name has value. Someone will buy it and continue production, but I doubt it will be in a union work environment.
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The brand name has value. Someone will buy it and continue production, but I doubt it will be in a union work environment.
I suspect this is why Ruger has two plants... one in their sissified union-friendly New England location, and one out here in AZ in a right to work state.
http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2011/05/27/sturm-ruger-tries-to-gun-down-unions-supports-right-to-work-veto-override-in-new-hampshire/
The blog post is a year old, but it demonstrates that given a choice, employers will favor right-to-work.
I expect Hostess, when purchased and reopened by someone else, will relocate somewhere with less Union interest.
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Don't worry they will reorganize and start up again as a nonunion shop.
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I doubt they will reorganize. Hostess has filed for chapter 7 if I am not mistaken. The CEO specifically stated that they were done in the story I read this morning.
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Poor Hostess, lost all their dough. I guess the workers will knead new jobs.
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Random thoughts o' the mornin'...
What happens to the Twinkie defense?????
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America's been on a sugar-high for at least half a century. There's going to be crazy **** going down if those Twinkies are cut off.
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I had half a mind to go by Sam's, stock up, and set them aside for listing on eBay. >:D
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And, here comes the mentally handicapped November Majority:
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/11/petition-wants-obama-to-save-twinkies-149789.html
Yep. Nationalize the "twinkie industry." Too big to fail.
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You are all aware, of course, that "We The People" is a site run by the White House.
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And, here comes the mentally handicapped November Majority:
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/11/petition-wants-obama-to-save-twinkies-149789.html
Yep. Nationalize the "twinkie industry." Too big to fail.
Watch it be the one recent petition they actually act on...union jobs are in danger, gotta save them!
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I had half a mind to go by Sam's, stock up, and set them aside for listing on eBay. >:D
You're probably too late. I got the 2nd to last box (fer eatin', not fer sellin') at the grocery store late this morning when I was picking up some lunch. They're rapidly selling-out everywhere according to the news.
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Little Debbie to the rescue.
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An article i read this morning (can't find it now) said that the Teamsters had been close to settlement, and looked into the financials. Saw that there was no bluff and agreed to more cuts. A smaller non-teamster union held out, and more or less told the teamsters to shove it, they made their own decisions, and refused to the agreement that teamsters and management had reached.
Guess they weren't bluffing...
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Little Debbie to the rescue.
Little Debbie does Irving? [popcorn]
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An article i read this morning (can't find it now) said that the Teamsters had been close to settlement, and looked into the financials. Saw that there was no bluff and agreed to more cuts. A smaller non-teamster union held out, and more or less told the teamsters to shove it, they made their own decisions, and refused to the agreement that teamsters and management had reached.
Guess they weren't bluffing...
Yep. When the Teamsters are the voice of reason, you know things went sideways. It was the Baker's Union that held out. Their website is exclusively blaming management (maybe true, maybe not).
http://bctgm.org/
Interesting how the details are not mentioned.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/16/news/companies/hostess-closing/
The new contract cut salaries across the company by 8% in the first year of the five-year agreement. Salaries were then scheduled to bump up 3% in the next three years and 1% in the final year.
Hostess also reduced its pension obligations and its contribution to the employees' health care plan. In exchange, the company offered concessions, including a 25% equity stake for workers and the inclusion of two union representatives on an eight-member board of directors
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Lots of moving parts involved with this.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-16/hostess-liquidation-curious-cast-characters-twinkie-tumbles (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-16/hostess-liquidation-curious-cast-characters-twinkie-tumbles)
More importantly, however, as America has been habituated following the last season of the reality TV show known as the presidential election, if Private Equity then "bad." Only this time there is a twist: because it wasn't really PE that was the pure evil in the Obama long-term campaign, it was associating PE with Republicans, and thus: with jobs outsourcing. And here comes the Hostess twist: because Tim Collins of Ripplewood, was a prominent Democrat, a position which allowed him to get involved in the first bankruptcy process in the first place, due to his proximity with the Teamsters' long-term heartthrob Dick Gephardt (whose consulting group just happens to also be an equity owner of Hostess).
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I cant stand it when people wont pay attention to the program. Its schools and restaurents that cant be allowed to have junk food but its a-ok for people on welfare to buy cartloads of junk food b/c they dont have time during their busy schedule of not working and sitting on their asses. Make sure you always have a current copy of the Leftist Agenda so youre always caught up.
There's been an update to the agenda. Poor people can't eat nutritious food, because they live in food deserts. Such places exist because heartless capitalists only build stores where profits outweigh crime rates. Those racists.
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Hostess also reduced its pension obligations and its contribution to the employees' health care plan.
But, but, but.....Obamacare fixed this. Health insurance rates are going down. He's bending the cost curve down. He said so in the debate.
;) ;/ :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Twinks owned by Grupo Bimbo? I'd think they would buy Ho Ho. >:D
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/16/investing/hostess-twinkies-wonder-bread/index.html?iid=obnetwork
The Twinkies' unit will probably attract the most potential bidders. Mexican bread company Grupo Bimbo
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The lead story on the 5 pm Seattle TV news is that Hostess products are flying off the shelves. People checking out with carts full of boxes of Twinkies, etc.
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Fortunately, they have a shelf life of about ten thousand years anyway.
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Fortunately, they have a shelf life of about ten thousand years anyway.
http://youtu.be/M1vYj0E2Hr0
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One of the plants is in Tulsa, I used to drive by it about every day when I worked in Tulsa. The property looks run down and kind of tacky. Interviews with the workers report that the plant is in poor shape and maintenance and repairs have been deferred to the point of poor reliability and safety issues. The employees had already been subject to pay and benefit cuts prior to this contract which would have made deeper cuts,
Yeah the union may have been cutting their noses off to spite their face but from local word management pretty well screwed the pooch as well.
Just my opinion but if you can't make a profit selling Twinkies and Wonder Bread you're doing something wrong.
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Just my opinion but if you can't make a profit selling Twinkies and Wonder Bread you're doing something wrong.
I think Twinkies aren't actually selling too well with the more health-consciousness of recent years. I believe that's a standard issue across all snack categories. Wonder bread you may be right, though I can't stand it, personally.
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Twinkies survived the great depression but couldn't survive Obama.
Not mine, but I wish it was.
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I work very close to a major McKee plant, I'm guessing this is good for Little Debbie. Screw Twinkies, but you can have my Swiss Rolls when you pry them from my cold, dead, sticky, and overweight hands.
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The lead story on the 5 pm Seattle TV news is that Hostess products are flying off the shelves. People checking out with carts full of boxes of Twinkies, etc.
Saw a friend on FB post that boxes of Twinkies are going for as much as $50 in DC. :facepalm:
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One more alternative currency. Excellent.
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I work very close to a major McKee plant, I'm guessing this is good for Little Debbie. Screw Twinkies, but you can have my Swiss Rolls when you pry them from my cold, dead, sticky, and overweight hands.
Preach it brother, preach it!
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Well, I like Mexican Coca Cola better than American coke, so maybe this would be a good thing. Plus it hits a couple of cultural zones.
1) Mexicans stepping in to do the work Americans won't do.
2) "Bimbos buy Twinkies" would be an awesome headline. :lol:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/11/18/will-twinkies-prove-sweet-deal-for-mexican-billionaire/
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I have been following this story somewhat dispassionatly as I don't really care about twinkies anyway. This afternoon I learned Drakes was also an owned brand!!!
NO MORE RING DINGS!!!!!
Oh Lord the Gov't better do something. I won't make it without ring dings.
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Too stale to fail.
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I will miss Ho-Hos
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Did high sugar tariffs play a part in Hostess' demise?
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2012/1116/Did-Congress-kill-the-Twinkie-The-tariff-tale-behind-the-Hostess-demise.-video
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Did high sugar tariffs play a part in Hostess' demise?
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2012/1116/Did-Congress-kill-the-Twinkie-The-tariff-tale-behind-the-Hostess-demise.-video
Nah, they already switched a bunch of the sugar to HFCS, and could always shift more.
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Hostess Continues Pattern Of Misinformation
BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises. One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256.
Interesting
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/13/4983174/hostess-continues-pattern-of-misinformation.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy (http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/13/4983174/hostess-continues-pattern-of-misinformation.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy)
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Not quite misinformation. Let's say that they paid all the top people what sounds like to be ~$2.5million to stay. Last year they had sales of $2.5 Billion. So you're saying that it's not worth .1% (.001) of sales to try to retain the people you think can lead the company to solvency?
If you know the company is circling the drain, everyone starts heading toward the lifeboats. Having your key people bail is not a good thing to happen when you are trying to save the ship. I know, I was there. One company I worked for started to lose sales, people started heading for the door. Things got worse. As the warehouse/logistics guy, I was offered a 50% raise to stay. I turned it down. They offered me a 100% raise and a "Stay-on" Bonus. Couple of other folks also got a huge raise to stay, but the writing was on the wall. The Production Manager and some of his folks got big money, to turn as much raw material as possible into Finished Goods to sell. A couple of Sales folks to sell all the stuff, including all the equipment. The Maintenance Manager and some of his wrench monkeys. The job lasted about 6 months. Once Production was done, he turned in his keys and all the files of his people. Once the Sales folks were done, they turned in their keys and signed off on their files. Once all the machinery and equipment was gone, the Maintenance guy brought in his keys and the files on his people. Once I shipped out the last stuff from the warehouse, I fired my last forklift driver, then sat at a table and went through the motions of firing myself.
Me:"Well, you know why I called you in here don't you?"
Myself: "No, what's going on? Did I miss a memo?"
Me: "The company's shutting down and we're going to have to let you go."
Myself: "What?!?! Why?!?! I've been a good employee, never been late, always work hard..."
Me: "Sales have been waaaaaayyyyy down, we're letting everyone go..."
Etc, etc, etc.
Anyone that would have walked in would have been quite confused as to what was going on.
Anywho. I finished firing myself, finished up the paperwork showing that the warehouse was empty (and clean), did a walk through with the building owner, got him to sign off, then went and dropped off all the timecards, paperwork, and employee files at the lawyers office and went home to look for a new job.
I got 30% of my last paycheck and 10% of my "Stay-on" bonus.
So before you jump on them for "SEE!!! GREED!!! 1%!!!! EVIL!!!" it may because you need their leadership to try to save it. And it looks like they might have, had the Baker's Union agreed to the temporary cuts. Like Rev said, when the Teamster's are the voice of reason*, you know things are FUBAR.
*I worked as a supervisor in Teamster shop, Local 705 Chicago Independent "We don't work and you can't make us." I could tell them the sky is blue and one of the shop stewards would file a grievance that I was doing union work (TV weatherman). ;/
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http://www.bctgm.org/PDFs/HostessPressRelease11-16-12.pdf
“Throughout this long and difficult process, BCTGM members showed tremendous courage,
solidarity and devotion to principle. They were well aware of the potential consequences of their
actions but stood strong for dignity, justice and respect.”
I hope the grocery store will take dignity, justice and respect in payment.
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http://www.bctgm.org/PDFs/HostessPressRelease11-16-12.pdf
I hope the grocery store will take dignity, justice and respect in payment.
No, but with that currency, you can get a government handout.
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I got 30% of my last paycheck and 10% of my "Stay-on" bonus.
I agree with everything you said, and it's business 101. Sometimes you have to pay more to keep folks than you really want to, especially when times are bad and things are really tight.
Re that comment, I gather you did not get the compensation you were promised?
My rule of thumb is, when the accountants start the evac, follow them. You're not going to get paid anyways.
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Re that comment, I gather you did not get the compensation you were promised?
I got the raise and made the big bucks for about 4 months. Once the lawyers and the court was done, there wasn't a whole lot of $$$ and it got proportioned out among all the creditors. Other vendors also got pennies on the dollars owed them. Once the ship has sunk, there's no way to get any more $$$ out of it. Ehhh.
Anyway, I was at least able to say I was making $Y*2, which made some employers think that I was some kind of wunderkind of warehousing and logistics. =D
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Judge say not so fast, back to the bargaining table.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1978304292001/ (http://video.foxnews.com/v/1978304292001/)
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Judge say not so fast, back to the bargaining table.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1978304292001/ (http://video.foxnews.com/v/1978304292001/)
That's very Atlas Shrugged-ish.
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Judge say not so fast, back to the bargaining table.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1978304292001/ (http://video.foxnews.com/v/1978304292001/)
"You can't go out of business, we forbid it!"
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That's the future: you can do what the Feds say you can do. But this is just an extension of what we already have. You don't own your property; you rent it from the government so long as you pay your property taxes (which are certainly not related to real property use).
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http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/hostess-and-bakers-union-agree-to-mediation/
Text link to augment RKL's announcement.
So far, it's just a judge "urging." Not "ruling." OK, fine. Not Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Act yet.
Yet. =|
ETA: Not anti-dog-eat-dog... I'm misremembering the wrong bill. Directive 10-289. For those who have never read Atlas Shrugged...
Point One: All workers, wage earners, and employees of any kind whatsoever shall henceforth be attached to their jobs and shall not leave nor be dismissed nor change employment...
Point Two: All industrial, commercial, manufacturing, and business establishments of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth remain in operation, and the owners of such establishments shall not quit, nor leave, nor retire, nor close, sell or transfer their business...
Point Three: All patents and copyrights, pertaining to any devices, inventions, formulas, processes, and works of any nature whatsoever, shall be turned over to the nation as a patriotic emergency gift...
Point Four: No new devices, inventions, products, or goods of any nature whatsoever, not now on the market, shall be produced, invented, manufactured or sold after the date of this directive...
Point Five: Every establishment, concern, corporation or person engaged in production of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth produce the same amount of goods per year as is, they or he produced during the Basic Year, no more or no less...
Point Six: Every person of any age, sex, class or income, shall henceforth spend the same amount of money on the purchase of goods per year as he or she spent during the Basic Year, no more and no less...
Point Seven: All wages, prices, salaries, dividends, profits, interest rates and forms of income of any nature whatsoever, shall be frozen at their present figures, as of the date of this directive. (But taxes will be allowed to increase as needed for the public good)
Point Eight: All cases arising from and rules not specifically provided for in this directive, shall be settled and determined by the Unification Board, whose decisions shall be final.
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Why would I not be too surprised to see some version of that at least introduced as a bill in the near future :facepalm:
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http://abcnews.go.com/Business/twinkies-maker-hostess-mediation-talks-fail/story?id=17775866
Mediation fails. Liquidation, away!
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Maybe Fiat can buy the brand names. Twinkie could be a good moniker for a cute midget car aimed at single females. Ding Dong might be a tad offensive.
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Maybe Fiat can buy the brand names. Twinkie could be a good moniker for a cute midget car aimed at single females. Ding Dong might be a tad offensive.
.....And they can call their sports car the "Zinger"!....
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http://sweetness-light.com/archive/absurd-union-benefits-and-rules-killed-hostess#.ULVYrGdMcv5