The Hostess-Twinkie who did what to kill it/them thread

[CrusaderFrank]

Yup.

Hostess can no longer compete in the free market so its going to get sold off.

If a repubican were in office we'd hear nothing about this, except perhaps they might explain to us that this is a feature of the

CREATIVE DESTRUCTIVE NATURE OF CAPITALISM

​

Because that what happens, extraordinary returns get reduced because of free enterprise.

You still haven't figured that part out, right

 

[Neotrotsky]

If you are referring to the hedge funds that put the company some 500 million in debt while paying themselves 7 figure salaries, you'd be right on the money.

Probably you think it's the guy actually baking the cupcakes actually expecting a working wage, though. Those bastards.

This, folks, is exactly why the republicans are losing elections.

Of course, JoeB owns Hostess stock certificates....right....Joe?

I wouldn't invest in that crap.

Let's review, shall we.

Hostess declares bankruptcy in 2004. They get a bunch of concessions from the unions, but still end up closing a bunch of plants. They lose market share.

Now a SMART company would invest in new equipment, new products, etc.

Hostess didn't do that. It sold out to a hedge fund that demanded greater revenues to pay off their loan.

And when they came back and asked the unions, "Hey, make more concessions because we messed it uplast time you bailed us out,", they said no.

Indeed
why invest when you already know the union will make
unreasonable demands and force the company to close, anyway

 

[Neotrotsky]

Really,
RTW states do have slightly lower average wages than non– RTW states, but they are located primarily in the South, which is less developed than the North and still has a lower cost of living.

Research controlling for this shows RTW states have, if anything, slightly higher wages
and little impact on wages (Robert Reed, “How Right-To-Work Laws Affect Wages,”)


Besides,
They save on dues

The only reason employers in Right-To-Work states maintain a living wage standard is they know what will happen if they don't. But if you choose to believe they do it because of an innate sense of fairness and benevolence, I will leave you in that state of happy delusion.

Delusion, my friend
is making people think that living on public assistance and food-stamps
while waiting for the "right" job to come along - is the way to go
and that somehow a "job" is beneath them

 

[ScienceRocks]

I think there should be a law that keeps unions from killing the corporation(the jobs). So they can only go to up until the point where it isn't profitable anymore.

Seriously, Unions shouldn't be able to destroy jobs like this.

 

[zeke]

I think there should be a law that keeps unions from killing the corporation(the jobs). So they can only go to up until the point where it isn't profitable anymore.

Seriously, Unions shouldn't be able to destroy jobs like this.

Seriously? You are a Twinkie. Or a Ding Dong. Or both. Seriously.

 

[ba1614]

Yup.

Hostess can no longer compete in the free market so its going to get sold off.

If a repubican were in office we'd hear nothing about this, except perhaps they might explain to us that this is a feature of the

CREATIVE DESTRUCTIVE NATURE OF CAPITALISM

​

You're right, if a Republican were in office all we would be hearing about would be job numbers and fuel prices.

 

[Stephanie]

Yup.

Hostess can no longer compete in the free market so its going to get sold off.

If a repubican were in office we'd hear nothing about this, except perhaps they might explain to us that this is a feature of the

CREATIVE DESTRUCTIVE NATURE OF CAPITALISM

​

You're right, if a Republican were in office all we would be hearing about would be job numbers and fuel prices.

Yep,

 

[JoeB131]

[

Indeed
why invest when you already know the union will make
unreasonable demands and force the company to close, anyway

Fair pay is not an unreasonable demand.

Again, simple enough solution. A law gets passed. No executive can be paid more than 10 times what the average line worker makes.

Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

 

[HUGGY]

Other than being a working guy who doesn't like seeing other working guys get screwed by rich douchebags, nope.

He wants to play 'workers of the world unite!' online, but he lacks the courage of his convictions (or anything else).

He's a faceless nobody, and he seems to think that if he makes an irrational peep here he might actually convince himself that he exists.

And yet your queer ass follows me around all day... hmmmm...

Better you than me!

 

[ScienceRocks]

Don't be surprised when Mexico and China are kicking our ass in 10 years. Honestly, we can't kick the free market with its market forces in the face and be successful. A corporation should have the power to be profitable. Sure, you can protest for better pay but if the damn thing goes out of business. Well, you're fucking yourself.

 

[bitterlyclingin]

[Labor celebrates its vicory over Hostess. Satire.]

"RADIO TRANSCRIPT. Joe Label has bakers' union boss Frank Hurt on the show

HOST: "Welcome back to Union Talk Radio, I'm your host Joe Label, our guest this hour is Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union President Frank Hurt. First I want to congratulate you guys are a major victory this week, taking down Hostess all the way to liqudation! Brilliant job"

FRANK HURT: "Thank you Joe, yes, it was a magnificient victory indeed for the workers of this country. A great victory for organized labor! A god day for America and our future."

HOST: "What does the demise of Hostess mean to you?"

FRANK HURT: "It means that big business and corporations cannot continue to exploit the working class without consequences. It means that we have shown that labor still has the power and should have a seat at OUR TABLE, not theirs during negotiations"

HOST: "So, this is a warning to corporations all over America?"

FRANK HURT: "Yes it is. We refuse to be slaves for the bottom line. We refuse to work for piddling wages while the fatcats take home millions to their mansions on golf resorts. We can no longer be treated like indentured servants"


HOST: "First caller, on the Teamster line, we have Mac Johnson. Welcome to the show, Mac, what's on your mind?"

CALLER: "Unemployment. I drove a truck for Hostess, we Teamsters saw the bottom line, and the company was dead broke. We took their deal, because we wanted to keep our jobs. Now we have thousands of union brothers without jobs, without any support. Your a one percenter Mr. Hurt, you make a quarter million a year off the back of union members, are you going to feed my family and pay my rent? You put us out of job and now you celebrate from your fatcat offic.........." [dial tone]

HOST: "We seemed to have lost that call. You must have a bad cell there, Mac. I couldn't really make out what he was saying anyway."

FRANK HURT: "No matter what anyone says, we achieved a great victory over exploitation. We have defeated "The Man" and by any measure, this was a true and impression victory for the working class"

HOST: "We have another caller, from Orlando Florida and it's one of your boys, Frank. We have Juan Rodriguez, hola Juan!"

CALLER: "Yes, I worked at the Marita plant. We stood strong and brave against the onslaught of corporate greed. The local Union representative told us that if Hostess is forced to liquidate another company would buy it and give us our jobs at our normal pay and benefits, how long will this take?"

FRANK HURT: "Well, obviously we cannot and did not promise that another company would reopen the plant and give you your normal pay and benefits back. That isn't even the point anyway, what you and your brothers did was to drive a stake through the heart of exploitative capitalist pigs, and you should be proud"

CALLER: "The thing is, Mr. Hurt, I need a job. I've been striking for months, the unemployment benefits are running out, how am I supposed to feed my kids? and my wife, she's like HUGE, you know?"

FRANK HURT: "Eggs need to be broken to make omelets, Juan, we have to keep our eyes on the big picture."

CALLER: "Also, do I need to keep paying dues? I'm pretty broke right now, being unemployed and all..."

FRANK HURT: "Of course, it is always important. It should be your top priority to keep paying your dues. You have to support the movement, Juan, it is more important than anything, even eating. You have to see the big picture. We are winning and soon, nobody will be exploited again because of what you and your brothers did."

HOST: "That is touching and inspirational, Mr. Hurt. You are an awesome role model for every exploited worker in America. Now we have one last caller, Andrew McCall, welcome to the show Andrew!"

CALLER: "Mr. Hurt, companies across America are cutting hours and jobs to avoid penalties and mandates in ObamaCare. How are we supposed to get new good paying jobs when they just don't seem to exist anymore?"

FRANK HURT: "These corporations and businesspeople have proved themselves unpatriotic and disloyal to their own workers. Where is loyalty in the workplace these days? This government must clamp down and punish these companies for doing what they do. In a perfect world we would all strike and shut them all down, only then will Americans be free of exploitation, when there are no companies left!"

CALLER: "Then what? Sounds like we'd starve..."

HOST: "That's all we have time for today, we'll be back tomorrow with Richard Trumpka and he will explain to us how to help Obama subdue the capitalist system! Onward Union Brothers!" "

Associated Posers: A Labor Victory Over Hostess

 

[bitterlyclingin]

The Mexican company that bought Sarah Lee was looking at the Twinkie. The Bakers will have to emigrate to Mexico if they want their old jobs and work for the going Mexican wage.
I wouldn't put it past Obama to tell the American people to bend over a little further and be sodomized some more in order to bail out the Hostess bakers as well as telling Hostess's debtholders none of what they are owed will be repaid, the funds all going to save the Union's jobs once more a la GM and Chrysler, even though it was actually the debtholders money, because Hostess failed to make a profit, that was used to pay Hostess's workers from the time it was loaned until the liquidation.

 

[Nosmo King]

When are the working people of America going to wise up and just take it in the shorts? In this country, by Conservative standards, we must coddle the rich and screw the working class. We're in a serious race to the bottom with a global standard of living set by Asia and Latin America. We can't get there if working class families continue to fight for decent wages and benefits.

Once the middle class has been eroded to a shadow of their former glory, Conservatives can them get about the business of making sure the wealthy get more and even more. Then and only then will the wealthy realize their noblis oblige morality and grant the working class a few low paying, no benefit jobs.

Meanwhile, lets cut the last braces underpinning the social safety net. We need to eliminate government regulations like OSHA and the National Labor Relations Board clearing the way for the wealthy to accumulate even more of the economic pie. Despite the fact that the wealthy make up only 2% of the wage earners, Conservatives are happy to do their bidding and cut the legs out from under themselves and their fellow countrymen. Why? Who knows! Maybe Fox and Limbaugh can 'educate' us.

 

[Neotrotsky]

Class division is so unworthy of the Democrats
They have gone so extreme and to the left in the 40+ years

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8TjbbpVLh4]Forward- The Obama Way - YouTube[/ame]

 

[KissMy]

Maybe we can start buying Twinkies from China.

Only a spastic retard would think we will import fresh bread from China.

 

[Neotrotsky]

[

Indeed
why invest when you already know the union will make
unreasonable demands and force the company to close, anyway

Fair pay is not an unreasonable demand.

Again, simple enough solution. A law gets passed. No executive can be paid more than 10 times what the average line worker makes.

Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

My god
how sad you really want a gov't to do this,,,,
Simple, is the word I would use as well

The high standard of living in the US has been
brought about by movements towards a free market
not by some dictates from some gov't bureaucratic putz

If gov't could just dictate what they want to make the perfect
society then

Cuba, former USSR would have been heaven

 

[thanatos144]

When are the working people of America going to wise up and just take it in the shorts? In this country, by Conservative standards, we must coddle the rich and screw the working class. We're in a serious race to the bottom with a global standard of living set by Asia and Latin America. We can't get there if working class families continue to fight for decent wages and benefits.

Once the middle class has been eroded to a shadow of their former glory, Conservatives can them get about the business of making sure the wealthy get more and even more. Then and only then will the wealthy realize their noblis oblige morality and grant the working class a few low paying, no benefit jobs.

Meanwhile, lets cut the last braces underpinning the social safety net. We need to eliminate government regulations like OSHA and the National Labor Relations Board clearing the way for the wealthy to accumulate even more of the economic pie. Despite the fact that the wealthy make up only 2% of the wage earners, Conservatives are happy to do their bidding and cut the legs out from under themselves and their fellow countrymen. Why? Who knows! Maybe Fox and Limbaugh can 'educate' us.

Take you communist idiocy and shove deeply up your ass. I have seen what communism is and I dont want it. I will keep my freedom you pathetic sheep.

 

[Againsheila]

If you are referring to the hedge funds that put the company some 500 million in debt while paying themselves 7 figure salaries, you'd be right on the money.

Probably you think it's the guy actually baking the cupcakes actually expecting a working wage, though. Those bastards.

This, folks, is exactly why the republicans are losing elections.

and 18 thousand Americans lost their jobs.. good job unions of the world.

Which would have happened anyway. It was already in the cards, they just wanted to keep on going with slave labor for as long as they could. Too bad the slaves revolted.

 

[Againsheila]

18,000 unemployed Americans damn good job unions all hail to the unions.

The company was in serious trouble before the union chose to strike.

So, if a company is in serious trouble, then that's when a union chooses to strike.








Am I the only one that sees anything suspciously stupid about this strategy....

So the company is in serious trouble, and after getting concessions from their workers, they give the CEO a 300% increase as well as huge raises to the rest of their top management. Am I the only one that sees anything suspiciously stupid about this strategy?

 

[Againsheila]

Really,
RTW states do have slightly lower average wages than non– RTW states, but they are located primarily in the South, which is less developed than the North and still has a lower cost of living.

Research controlling for this shows RTW states have, if anything, slightly higher wages
and little impact on wages (Robert Reed, “How Right-To-Work Laws Affect Wages,”)


Besides,
They save on dues

The only reason employers in Right-To-Work states maintain a living wage standard is they know what will happen if they don't. But if you choose to believe they do it because of an innate sense of fairness and benevolence, I will leave you in that state of happy delusion.

Delusion, my friend
is making people think that living on public assistance and food-stamps
while waiting for the "right" job to come along - is the way to go
and that somehow a "job" is beneath them

They had already taken serious cutbacks, while the CEO got a 300% increase and the rest of upper management got huge raises as well. How many concessions do you think they should have made? Do you think they should have just kept on working even if they were working for free? I don't mind volunteering, I do, a lot, but I sure as heck wouldn't volunteer for Hostess, would you? Why do you think the employees should?