Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight- Page 3
Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
mikey2573
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/28/10
#50Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 9:21am
Hey Iliveintherealworld2, STOP picking on the retard (Romantico).
Hostess should have just fired all the striking workers and then hung out the HELP WANTED signs. Plenty of people would have applied and we could then still get our Twinkies.
I love the way people here call anyone who disagrees with them a "troll". By that definition everyone on this board is a troll. Calling someone a troll is about as useless as calling someone a racist; it has no meaning anymore and people just laugh it off.
#51Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 9:31amtrolls and racists laugh it off.
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#52Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 10:20amI guess I chose the right time to start my diet. However, if I had known, I would have savored that last chocolate cupecake a bit more.
#53Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 10:27amNot that I know for sure, just speculating. I think one reason for the decline in people buying Hostess products is the changing times. Like when I was a child, parents could put that stuff in their child's lunch at school. Now some schools have that sort of stuff banned. I can't think of anything that would be considered healthy that Hostess made.
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#54Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 10:48amHostess owns a lot of food brands, including Wonder Bread, Nature's Pride, and Merita. They're responsible for a lot of the affordable bread that hits the shelves in supermarkets.
#55Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 11:01am
Have either of those bread companies move toward whole-grain or tried to appeal to people who are gluten-free? Yes, everybody has a budget but there are also dietary choices at play with food. Nobody's expecting artisinal breads from these places but Wonder Bread cannot expect people today to choose their product by default.
When the auto industry was in trouble there were questions of why didn't they adapt to more efficient makes and models. Truth is US automakers did have those cars, just in their European market where there were standards in law and those models (Ford Fiesta comes to mind) were really popular. When their life got extended in the bailout, suddenly there were these cars available on the market that were sustainable and not the clunkers.
Updated On: 11/17/12 at 11:01 AM
iliveintherealworld2
Swing Joined: 11/16/12
#56Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 11:05am
Hey Romantico - since I'm a "troll" who stands for nothing, let's meet up at a coffee shop this week and discuss the real effect of unions in real life. Frankly, I don't know who you are either. You're completely anonymous as well.
You're essentially Donald Trump-ing me right now. You are doubting my validity as a real live person in order to undermine my very honest opinion.
So to make you go away, I'm going to Obama you back and release my personal information later with a photo.
Then maybe you can stop being a lunatic, moron and share a real point of view. Unions played as big a role in the collapse of Hostess as management or any other party. Companies are team efforts not one man ships.
Updated On: 11/17/12 at 11:05 AM
#57Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 11:07am
The unions are guilty of one thing: Protecting their members from this transparent ABUSE of power. Upper management misappropriated funds that should have gone back into the company. This is why this is happening, NOT because the workers went on strike.
iliveintherealworld2
Swing Joined: 11/16/12
#58Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 11:12am
Carlos, perhaps there may have been mismanagement leading up to the strike. However companies do not have an OBLIGATION to pay their workers over minimum wage. You may argue they have a responsibility to. We don't live in a socialist country but rather a capitalist society.
Workers are allowed to band together and make whatever demands they want. Companies are allowed to accept, reject or fire their workers as a result.
In this case Hostess had not enough money to agree to the worker's demands, and not enough time to replace them so it led to the entire company being shut down.
So the unions tried to make a power play and it back fired on them. Now they'll have to find other jobs. But this is how our economy works. The unions/employees don't have ALL the power and neither do the companies. They each make their own decision about how to treat each other with a sufficient amount of risk involved.
Updated On: 11/17/12 at 11:12 AM
mikey2573
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/28/10
#59Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 11:16am
iliveintherealworld2: I would SERIOUSLY reconsider releasing your personal information if I were you, especially in regards to Romantico. As his posts CLEARLY indicate, Romantico has serious mental health issues. I am not trying to be funny or coy or anything; you need to be VERY careful when dealing with someone as mentally unhinged as Romantico.
Just saying.
iliveintherealworld2
Swing Joined: 11/16/12
#60Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 11:46am
Ok thank you. I will think about it.
Updated On: 11/17/12 at 11:46 AM
#61Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 12:11pmstrummergirl, Nature's Pride is all whole grain, selling various combinations of multigrain. It's actually my favorite wrapped brand, but distribution was very limited in the north east. The other two brands offer whole wheat varieties, as well. I can't speak for gluten free lines.
#62Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 12:24pmThanks for the info, trentsketch.
#63Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 2:06pm
In this case Hostess had not enough money to agree to the worker's demands...
And there wasn't "enough money" because of the misappropriation of those funds. The higher ups decided to give themselves hefty bonuses and pay raises at the expense of the company. They even stopped depositing funds into these hard workers' pension funds.
The only "demands" these laborers were asking for was not to be subjected to any more cuts. Talk about adding insult to injury. Why should they take cuts for such an obvious and blatant misuse of funds.
The higher ups should have been the ones to be subjected to taking cuts to remedy the mess that they created.
Don't blame the laborers or the union. They weren't the ones funneling money into their own pockets.
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#64Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 2:10pm
Let's not forget the illegal hedge funds...
Once again, NOTHING to do with the Unions.
iliveintherealworld2
Swing Joined: 11/16/12
#65Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 3:09pm
TheatreDiva90016 - what the hell does that even mean? Since when are hedge funds "illegal"?
Do you people all live under a cave and think that anyone with a lot of money is the boogieman? Hedge funds have been around forever and are LEGAL operations.
CarlosAlberto - blame the upper management all you want. Perhaps you even make a valid point, though to be honest I can't imagine any executive pay raise would sink a company or equate to the amount of money necessary to pay 18,500 workers. That said no matter what the reason is, the workers decided to "stand their ground" and they ended up jobless. Way the cookies crumbles. I guess they prefer nothing over something.
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#66Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 3:26pm
Hedge funds are not legal when the money is taken illegally from the employees.
You don't seem to want to discuss anything unless you are right.
And you aren't.
More Facts...
iliveintherealworld2
Swing Joined: 11/16/12
#67Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 4:20pm
Hey TheatreDiva90016, I just read your article.
Can you please copy and paste the part where it refers to hedge fund's "illegal activities"? Or them taking money "illegally" from their employees?
I must have missed it because I couldn't find it myself.
Updated On: 11/17/12 at 04:20 PM
#68Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 4:29pm
The top executives gave themselves massive raises in the months leading up to this, being fully aware of their company's problems and situation.
Hardly illegal, but morally dubious- taking the money and running.
Per Gawker
#69Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 4:48pm
CarlosAlberto - blame the upper management all you want...
Damn right I am. Look at the FACTS:
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.
And yet and still you harp and carp that it's the workers and union's fault.
What did you expect them to do after they were asked to take more cuts? These executives had NO BUSINESS giving themselves these kinds of increases when they were aware of the company's financial troubles. Who in their RIGHT MIND does this?
I'll tell you who: Greedy ass mutherfvckers, that's who.
They are the ones to blame for all of this.
END OF STORY.
iliveintherealworld2
Swing Joined: 11/16/12
#70Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 4:54pm
The Executives are allowed to do whatever they want. Hostess is not a publicly traded company. As long as they had permission from their investors and board, all is well. They don't have to listen to your idea of morality. They owe their employees nothing. Just like their employees owe them nothing.
Employers don't HAVE to pay what unions request. This is not a socialist country. And if those employees are unhappy with their employers, they can move on and find another job, which in this instance, they did.
Boom. Case closed.
Executives have no obligation to raise their employees wages proportionate to their own in a PRIVATE company. You may think it's not right, and as do I. But then I'd suggest you move to Cuba.
#71Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 5:01pm
But then I'd suggest you move to Cuba.
And I suggest YOU get a clue and SHUT THE FVCK up. People like you should be shot and quartered.
iliveintherealworld2
Swing Joined: 11/16/12
#72Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 5:09pm
Is that a threat, bro?
This country was founded on me being able to pay my workers whatever I damn well please! Why do you think China is surpassing us? The US is loosing its hold on cheap labor.
If this was the good old days, I woulda payed you a quarter an hour! And if you stayed around for a year, you would have got a nickel raise.
Now Romantico would have probably only received 15 cents but that's because he's a little slow. He would have been fired pretty quickly.
iliveintherealworld3
Swing Joined: 11/17/12
#73Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 5:09pm
Sorry, I got locked out of my account again and forgot I could request my password!
Anyways I've done lots of thinking and I decided that I was wrong and that I'm a stupid douche.
#74Hostess to close, lay off 18,500 after 'crippling' union fight
Posted: 11/17/12 at 5:12pmYou're all stupid douches.
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