-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.
Woosty=^..^
The STNG clip was precious, just precious. 🙂
Nal, I wonder if the “slightly better….offer” will include the 8% pay cut and no pension? If they really wanted to be labor friendly maybe profit-sharing of some substance would fit the bill. My experience with PS has been all theoretical, does anyone have any experience with it? Thanks for the updates Nal, well done.
Above it was stated that Hostess was directed to arbitration- at this point it was directed to mediation. If the parties cannot come to terms even with a disinterested party assisting them they are released from arbitration to move forward. Mediators do write reports though and in a perfect world that report carries some weight. A report that stated that the employer was not bargaining in good faith could have a significant impact before a bankruptcy judge. In a perfect world.
EGT,
I’m pretty sure they dose the coffee with extra irony on those shows. Luckily the dark roast hides the metallic taste.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report are two productions where irony is employeed by a staff of writers who understand its usage.
idealist707 said
EGT, Your ideas are irrelevant.
Then we have nothing to discuss.
id707,
I wasn’t addressing you but rather Bron and EGT ergo I have no idea what you are prattling on about. I know this will come as a shock, but not everything is about you.
EGT,
Your ideas are irrelevant. It is what you feel which comes out as either sarcasm or irony. And where you view the scene and he who is part of it that matters.
Don’t try to parse these words. Take contact with your heart. It is it which is speaking, and placing yourself in the scenne.
If the words correctly and adequately convey either depends on wit, of the general kind. But that is another matter. It is the intent and the tone of delivery which establishs which it is.
Here is enough irony to do all your shirts:
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2012/11/anti-gay-christian-lawyer-arrested-for.html
Bron
The following is another example taken from your source and described as irony but is actually sarcasm:
““What a beautiful view,” he said, his voice dripping with irony, as he looked out the window at the alley.”
An online dictionary is useful to a point but is no substitute for a real education
A useful hint when attempting irony is to test for the wit and the wink.
Oh dear! TonyC did not fart, he crapped in his britches.
Sitting in Gene’s gutter, he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.
I agree Nal. The company wants to go through liquidation because they have already sucked the filling out of the Twinkie.
Did someone phart—–loudly? Oh, it was TonyC I fear.
EGT,
Amazing, the puppet praises its master. Your words are as crude as your thoughts. And they encompass nothing.
GeneH,
I knew the connection. But as I said and you don’t understand, irony lies in the mind of the beholder.
And for me to see such wisdom come out of your pretentious mouth is heighth of irony.
Gene H. I don’t get it….
Government Spending as a Percentage of GDP
@Nal: I don’t think they want to avoid it either; perhaps they have parachutes they want to deploy. It can sometimes be in their selfish interest; an ongoing company may leave them no choice but to continue with a modest salary (or resigning), an “event” like a bankruptcy or buyout can trigger an unusual circumstances clause that creates a windfall.
(Just speculation on my part.)
the example was taken from Merriam Websters online dictionary. I’ll go with them until I know your credentials.