Hostess Brands (Twinkies) on verge of liquidation

[Mr Nice]

Hostess Brands (Twinkies) on verge of liquidation due to labor strike. This Thursday is the deadline for the workers to stop their strike.

Any BITOG members going to stock up on Twinkies before they are all gone and be a thing of the past ?

http://www.hostessstrike.info/

 

[Dakota1820]

no more fried twinkies AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

 

[AstroTurf]

No not really...

But, Where can I go to scab a job?

LOLz, Jim

 

[simple_gifts]

I'm sure Michael Pollan won't be.

 

[Propflux01]

Might as well stock up, they last forever anyhow!

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: Tim H.
Might as well stock up, they last forever anyhow!


+1

 

[morepwr]

I am not really a fan of the twinkies but I do like some of the other Hostess stuff even though I rarely eat that stuff.

 

[NMBurb02]

I am glad to see that the company is standing up to the unions and that some people are thankful enough to have a job that they are willing to cross the picket lines to continue working.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Guess they really won't last to the end of the world ... or I hope they don't otherwise we have problems!

 

[antiqueshell]

I bet the executives never took substantial pay cuts over the past couple of decades.

Lead by example.

 

[cmorr]

Originally Posted By: NMBurb02
I am glad to see that the company is standing up to the unions and that some people are thankful enough to have a job that they are willing to cross the picket lines to continue working.


I dont have a dog in this race, nor am I a union member, but thought you may find this interesting. This company is under investigation for manipulating executive salaries immediately prior to the bankruptcy filing (a big no-no). They raised their base salaries and lowered performance based incentives/bonuses. Their creditors caught them red handed and since lowered (4) of the top officers

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303772904577333602976713584.html

 

[MrQuackers]

Lil' Debbie it is then I guess. Yum.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: cmorr

This company is under investigation for manipulating executive salaries immediately prior to the bankruptcy filing (a big no-no). They raised their base salaries and lowered performance based incentives/bonuses. Their creditors caught them red handed and since lowered (4) of the top officers

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303772904577333602976713584.html


BINGO!

I love how folks here act is if all the blame goes to the union workers or workers and NEVER to the executive manglement. LOL

 

[PandaBear]

I do not have any stake in this either, but usually if they are going bankrupt or even liquidation, labor dispute is just a straw on the camel's back. There are much deeper problems: products, marketing, quality, etc.

To be around twinkies for at least 19 years and never have the urge to try one because their packaging looks cheap, aged (never changed since I saw it), and unclean, means the management has been doing a poor job for a long time.

 

[Shannow]

They were advertised heavily in the "Little Lotta" comics when I was a kid...

Had my first and last one at a "survival" camp in year 10, where hot dogs were exchanged for sugar...putrid it was

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Needless to say I'm not a fan of what they produce and if they do shutter those brands I'll certainly not notice. The likely upside is a slightly healthier populace in a country without twinkies.

 

[Astro14]

Originally Posted By: NMBurb02
I am glad to see that the company is standing up to the unions and that some people are thankful enough to have a job that they are willing to cross the picket lines to continue working.


How is the company standing up? By mis-management? By failing to market correctly? Failing to instill quality control measures? By handing themselves bonuses and then threatening the workers with liquidation?

That's not standing up. That's incompetence that turned to bullying after being caught at incompetence..."blame labor" is overly simplistic thinking. The truth is never that simple. How did labor get to be so strong? How did their costs get so high?

Leadership and management matter...leadership is articulating a goal and getting everyone to achieve it...management is focusing on details that matter to enable an organization to run.

When the only arrow you have left in your quiver is "squeeze labor costs" it's because leadership was never present, and management failed (in the negotiation of contracts, the management of production costs, in quality control, in marketing) a long time ago....and now the company is on the edge of collapse.

Filing for bankruptcy is a desperate measure...it happens when management has been failing for a while. This kind of press release (negotiating in public) is a threat...the equivalent of putting a bayonet to the back of your soldier's heads on the battle field...if you've arrived at that point, you've failed as a leader a long time ago...you'll never see that kind of coercion and mistrust in the US military...but you have seen it in instances like Saddam's Republican Guards...

 

[volk06]

Frozen ho ho's and snowballs are the best.... even though I rarely eat them. I have a box of each the freezer they stay fresh longer since I only eat about 1 a month and freezing them just makes them that much better! I usually buy little debbie though, hostess was just on sale and cheaper.

 

[jcwit]

Ya it all managements fault, just like its all managements fault production gets moved to china so we can buy cheap stuff.

I watched unions break every major manufacturer in South Bend Indiana.

Wonder how the RV industry manages to continue to grow without unions backing and still pay workers $1000 to $1500 take home per week?

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear

To be around twinkies for at least 19 years and never have the urge to try one because their packaging looks cheap, aged (never changed since I saw it), and unclean, means the management has been doing a poor job for a long time.


Cheap? It's a Twinkies or cup cake wrapper. You aren't supposed to frame the thing and hang it on the wall. It's something that is designed to be thrown away after you eat the 200 empty calories. I'm sure the pencil-pushers were happy that it was cheap. Never changed? It's called brand recognition. McDonalds hasn't changed their golden arches since inception either. Unclean? You mean you saw dirt in some Twinkies or what?
Getting back to the subject of bankruptcy, if they want to go that route, let them. The products will probably be sold off to other companies, but if they aren't, we will be healthier because of it. My kids don't have a steady diet of the junk and I may have to buy a box of them and give them one just so they know what a Twinkie is before they become extinct. I'm not really worried though. It will probably be back, one way or another.