It's A Sad Day My Friends

[maverickmk]

Hostess is going out of business. Stock up on Twinkies & Ho Ho's while you can.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hostess-close-cites-nationwide-worker-123953115.html

 

[TiredIronGRB]

Another business destroyed by overzealous unions.

 

[skull]

bummer

so many people out of work over stupidity,

the Boing company here is headed the same direction. there employees are union and they go on strike every couple of years for more money and whatever they feel they can get and company is about to pull out of the northwest and move almost everything to S C to save money. the people there will do the work for a lot less and be happy to have the jobs.

no pity for self inflicted wounds.

that will put thousands of people out of work around here, but the employees are doing it to themselves at Boing and hostess.

Later

 

[BigIrish]

Yep, they should look at what happened to the US auto industry and take note. I'm sure they weren't super high paying jobs but I doubt all 18,000 of them are going to find work anywhere else for the same money.

Seems like most people have this impression that large companies can afford to pay workers any amount of money and the only reason everyone doesn't make $50/hr is because there is a fat bald man sitting behind a marble desk smoking cigars that is keeping all the money.

Just isn't so. Most companies operate on the razors edge of paying their costs and their creditors every month. Even a slight increase in costs can bring even a big company down.

 

[Hot dodge pickup]

California loves unions

Yes, in California we the people love unions and Monsanto, we also love higher taxes to help our teachers unions run this state, we really don't want to know what food we are giving to our children so we didn't want to know what it's made from and how it is combined with pestides and what health problems it's causing. Thanks to all our leftist friends, companies are moving out of California and with it good jobs. Our EPA would like our car hobby eleminited and we can ride the high speed rail from Bakersfield north. Global warming is a proven hoax foe the last 16 years the temp has stayed steady but cap and trade will take affect in California. May out country survive and rat rods forever.

 

[Tim...Ok]

I think we may have to do without our twinkies for a little while, but I really think this shutdown is just to break the union..They told the striking workers they would close the doors if they didn't get back to work..

I'd be surprised if the store shelves are ever without our twinkies

 

[donsrods]

I know Unions had their place at one time in our history, what with sweat shops and all that, but today they have outlived their usefulness in most cases.

I worked for a company that was family owned and they really took good care of their employees. One employee started a movement to get unionized and it went downhill from then on. I was in management and if I walked into the plant to ask a question one of the "union guys" would stop me and tell me they would have to handle the matter, not me. It became a war between the shop and the front office.

It got so ridiculous that they demanded it be put in the contract that they got a free turkey every Christmas, and the owner had always done that anyway with no questions. He got so mad at one meeting he told them "Then you better specify every detail about that turkey because you will get one but it will still have the feathers on it "

With so many people begging for jobs any employee who doesn't do everything possible to keep their job today is just an idiot. Good for Hostess, I guess that will show those employees how much their striking got them.

Don

 

[BigIrish]

I really think this shutdown is just to break the union..

It's not a shutdown. The strike bankrupted the company. They lost $10 million because of it and the company is no more. It's not going to re-open once the union is out.

That whole "break the union" thing doesnt make any sense here. The CEO himself is now out of a job as is everyone else in managment, not just the workers. No one wins in this one. All the employees are jobless and all of the suppliers that sold stuff to Hostess are also going to get screwed b/c there is no money to pay them.

But yes, they will sell the Twinkie brand to someone who will produce them in a smaller more efficient plant in a non-unionized area, and we will see them again in the future.

 

[ronnysplymouth]

Eventually someone will buy the brand and hopefully bring back our favorites......personally I could use a break.....lol

 

[sgtpontiac]

See......you guys thought I was kidding.....

Heard that on the radio the other day.... looks like little Debbie is going to have an increase in sales......she'll be BIG DEBBIE!!!

 

[26Troadster]

it's gonna be ok, we still have little debbie.[ddd[cl

 

[Torch]

Wells Blue Bunnie here in Omaha got bought out by LaLA brand a mexican company paying a couple bucks over minimum wage
Rotellas bread still has a bakers union

I've had twinkies and cupcakes the day they were made.... goood.
but the filling is pretty much just oil an sugar. it's just all flavored filler anymore and not as good as it could be

Imma still go get me some here tonight.
I just hope i get some fresh ones nothing worse than those bitter rancid oil burps from day old junkfood.
The worst treats ever were these lemon bars in a truckstop up on 95 in virginia...the place with the gun collection GAK! dont know how old they were but every drop of moisture in the recipe had been replaced with oil that had gone rancid omg they were AWFUL
Oil is not moisture...ever get a nasty greasy cookie and complain and have the waitress tell you "they're moist"
"well miss oil is not moisture"[S
"but it keeps them from drying out" she says
"that's not a problem when they are fresh" [P

 

[sgtpontiac]

Better hurry....

I hear Doc Crankenstein has cornered the market in Canada....he's hoarding them big time.....kind of a "Investment"....

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

I hear Doc Crankenstein has cornered the market in Canada....he's hoarding them big time.....kind of a "Investment"....

I'm resurrecting the popular sideshow, "Ripley's Believe It Or Not". The Twinkies are bait to attract "talent"...

 

[Ol Blue]

I've been retired from a union factory job for about 10 years now. I was not active in the union and I didn't agree with their stance on many issues. Here's a few of my random thoughts about this.

Where I worked, direct labor costs ( wages and benefits) were a very small part of the cost of our product.

I can't think of an instance where union wage concessions ever saved anyone's job more than a few months.

I recall once when our contract was in negotiations a non-bargaining unit engineer told me he hoped we did well because he would get the same plus more.

I feel for the people that are losing their jobs, but I sure don't think their wages are what is putting Hostess in bankruptcy.

Blue

 

[Torch]

Think someone spent too much time Imagining getting more?




Obumbles the twinkie killer... got a ring to it.

 

[Old Iron]

I personally dislike unions for a couple reasons.
They protect people who do inferior work causing the end product to be inferior and the strike thing is only a thuggish way of collecting more and more money from a company.

 

[Torch]

I personally dislike unions for a couple reasons.
They protect people who do inferior work causing the end product to be inferior and the strike thing is only a thuggish way of collecting more and more money from a company.

It's different in the trades, if you do shoddy work you get scrutinized. your mates won't put up with a hack on the job.
One benefit about the union concerns what happened to me recently.
I got hired by an outfit doing construction and I think i got fired because someone didn't like me personally.
We started at 7 I had called in sick at 5:30 and when I checked back in with them around 1 they told me i was fired for not calling in that day and missing work other days (That I had worked)
The union asked me for copies of my pay stubs and cell phone records to prove I had called in and that I had worked and been on time every day.
They said they could get me back on the job because that company was still asking for more carpenters and "you have a right to keep your job as long as you show up on time, do what you're told to do, and there's work to be done. you should never lose a job over favoritism or that someone just doesn't like you"

I told them I didn't want to go back to that outfit but they are standing behind me that I was wrongfully fired to make sure it does not harm me with other employers or disqualify me for unemployment later.

Without unions you are entirely at the mercy of the corporation>
I have been singled out and discredited from the trucking industry by people working for the corporations that either did not like me or tried to rip me off and I found out and blocked it.
Without a union it doesn't matter if you can prove you were on time and had exemplary service, if a person above you wants to retaliate against you for any reason then the whole company comes against you and stands behind them.
Without a union you have to seek justice through the courts.
It's one thing to end a relationship with someone you chose not to do business with but it's entirely another to slander and libel them to prevent them from gaining a more favorable relationship elsewhere.
I think it's even more of an imperative when you have a highly productive and effective expert that your breaking your relationship with that you do not let your competition enjoy his services.

Corporate pigs have this "you will work for me and let me screw you or you will work for no-one mentality"

A lot of this evil is excused away as "just business"... bollocks
I grew up in business
Business has morals and ethos. It's based on honesty, a 'capacity supplying needs' and a man's word and his commitment to make good on it.
What these people do is something... but it ain't business

 

[Hot dodge pickup]

Public sector jobs were lower paying jobs at one time with very good benefits now with the unions in the tax payers pocket the public jobs pay much higher than private sector jobs and with benefits that exceed private sector jobs. This must change or we won't have enough people to rob from to pay the unions and all will suffer, unless you live in California then people like Jerry Brown will ask the people on public assistance and our friends from across the border along with the unions to take the money from us with higher and higher taxes. Enough said from Hot Dodge Pickup. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.

 

[26Troadster]

i used to belong to local #92 ironworkers birmingham alabama, i took a withdraw years ago when it was hard to find jobs local, and went back to the machine shops. i have seen good people in the union and also lazy people that just show up and let everybody alse carry them because you can't say nothing to them or fire them. i believe if it wasn't for unions we would not have the pay or the benifits that we have now. that being said i don't believe i would ever go back union, nothing aginst them just not for me. it was so strong that i could not change a light bulb without causing a stir. now for a lighter note, how about some little debbie, little debbie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs7RwL56YHc