-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
CEO Gregory Rayburn of Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies, Ho Ho’s, and Sno Balls, has announced plans to liquidate the 83-year old company. The company is in its second bankruptcy in a decade. Hostess sold about $2.5 billion worth of snack products last year with Twinkies leading the pack. However, the company has nearly $1 billion in debt and has $2 billion in unfunded pension obligations.
About 18,000 jobs are at stake. The unionized employees are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM). BCTGM in September rejected a last, best and final offer from Hostess and went out on strike.
While Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn was planning to ask his employees for wage and benefit concessions, he was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000). Nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises.
Over the eight years since the first bankruptcy, Hostess employees have watched as:
money from previous concessions that was supposed to go towards capital investment, product development, plant improvement and new equipment, was squandered in executive bonuses, payouts to Wall Street investors and payments to high-priced attorneys and consultants.
BCTGM stated that “Our members are on strike because they have had enough.” The union’s members voted 92% to reject the company’s “best and final offer.”
Hostess plans to sell its most popular brands like Twinkies, CupCakes, Ding Dongs, Ho Ho’s, Sno Balls, and Donettes. In the mean time, Hostess products are flying off store shelves.
Competitors like Bimbo Bakeries USA (pronounced “Beembo”), also employing union workers and the largest bakery corporation in the US, may be a likely purchaser of some of the Hostess brands.
H/T: LGM, Think Progress, Policy Mic, Sacremento Bee, WSJ, Courthouse News.
eighth grade teacher:
Why isnt the example I provided irony?
Hostess shutdown on hold
On Friday, management announced a shutdown of Hostess and appeared before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain on Monday afternoon seeking approval to liquidate.
But Drain said he wanted the parties to try one last time to reach agreement. Drain will serve as the mediator at a session scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. Only one day of talks is set for now.
Based on prior actions, I don’t think management wants to keep the company out of liquidation.
Gene H.
A+
I am curious why Dr. Krugman did not mention the % of GDP spent on government then and now.
Most probably an oversight.
And lo, in the fineries of irony, the pathos of the Twinkie fades . . .
Bron
The example you offered is not a proper use of irony.
This is a cartoon combining the proper and improper use of irony.
First Panel: Sarge (looking at Zero’s crumpled shirt): That’s a very well pressed shirt you have on there!
Zero (looking at his shirt): Looks crumpled to me!
Sarge: You don’t understand irony do you??
Next panel has Zero busily ironing his shirt, saying “I’ll show you who doesn’t understand irony!”
Sarge’s claim of irony was really sarcasm which students often misidentify. The last panel is irony.
Which of the following two billboard signs would you identify as ironic?
A. We Are Committed To Excellense!
B. We Are Committed To Excellence!
@Idealist: …and show the real TonyC again.
I think I am the best judge of who the real Tony C is. Right now, the real Tony C thinks you are just another disingenuous, say anything poster without any principles, sniping with petty and transparent lies in a childish pout because you didn’t get the cookie you asked for.
You have a doubt, raff?
Nal,
Great Krugman article! Maybe Krugman reads the Turley Blog! 🙂
Actually, I was talking about Nal’s post relating to economics, but if the crazy fits? Wear it.
TonyC,
Now you are down to GeneH’s level.
It wasn’t a lie sweety. It was a white “lie”, as I saw no
irony, but it was only an accomodation of another one who saw it. Irony is subtle, and not so clearly defined as EGT would like it to be.
Irony is in the eye of the beholder, as it depends on the unseen reference points of the viewer. Bron saw irony, I did not, but acceded to his capability to see what I did not. So get off your GeneH pedestal and show the real TonyC again.
You want get more out of me until you show that you can see not just your ego and achievements but your smallness compared with reality.
“Someone” cited Socrates, so proudly as though they were disciples. Such irony. From the mouths of idiots come words of wisdom—loaned by not understood.
The chief knowitall here cites: “I know that I know nothing.” (Paraphrase) Ackackack such irony. From he who claims to know it all, and is always right, always best, etc. The alpha hound, the big frog, the bully in chief. And you are flattered by his support. You are beyond help I fear.
Now the vulture is back again.
One definition of insanity is trying the same failed tactic over and over again all the while expecting a different result.
Paul Krugman:
The Twinkie Manifesto
Above all, the success of the postwar American economy demonstrates that, contrary to today’s conservative orthodoxy, you can have prosperity without demeaning workers and coddling the rich.
@Idealist: Your presumption that you “stopped me” is premature; and certainly incorrectly using language is not something that would do it.
Certainly, my defense is not the defense of the bully; that is another misuse of common language. Or is it another purposeful lie, like claiming irony when you say that you knew there was none? Is that your modus operandi; to just say whatever it takes, true or not, to win an argument?
My defense is that your request is an unreasonable imposition. Not every denial of a request is “bullying,” it is just a refusal to spend time and effort coddling an overly sensitive individual. I am not bullying you, you are trying to bully me into acceding to your demand for “proper respect.” And now, as you resort to admitted lies just to gain some advantage, I see I am right to refuse because your tactics prove do not deserve any respect.
Hostess reprieves Twinkies, Ho-Hos and Ding Dongs
4:01 PM ET, 11/19/2012 – MarketWatch Databased News
Hostess Brands Inc. and its bakers union reportedly agreed Monday to arbitration on their labor dispute, likely saving the company from liquidation. That could spare its iconic brands such as Twinkies and Ho Hos. On Friday the company filed a motion with U.S. Bankruptcy Court to close its business and sell its assets after the strike by its 18,500 workers.
Hostess To Pay $1.75 Million In Executive Bonuses After Blaming Unions For Bankruptcy
Hostess Brands, the maker of sweet snacks like Twinkies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, will ask a bankruptcy judge today to approve a plan that will allow it to pay $1.75 million in bonuses to 19 of its executives.
Nal, they would have to change every single ingredient to get me to eat one. Dont care how nice the new machines are, haha
eighth grade teacher:
“The great irony of human intelligence is that the only species on Earth capable of reason, complex-problem solving, long-term planning and consciousness understands so little about the organ that makes it all possible—the brain. —Amanda Bower, Time, 20 Aug. 2001”
So a person cannot see irony in a given situation, it has to be manufactured?
Nal,
Great news, if it is true.
A completely new textile fabric assortment was made possible by the South Koreans investing in new advanced USA machines in the 1980’s when American companies refused to modernize. I talked to the man who had been there and had sold the equipment.
Go into any woman’s clothing affair catering to young women and you will see. These garment fabrics, texturized, interwoven, intertwining, etc etc could not be done by the old machines.
How much America lost on that I do not know.
Maybe machine parks do make a difference in the Twinkie business too.