The Demise Of The Twinkie: Hostess Files Motion To Liquidate

Wall Street Journal ^

[Sub-Driver]

The Demise Of The Twinkie: Hostess Files Motion To Liquidate

By Tom Gara

And that’s that: Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies, Wonder Bread and more, announced this morning it has filed a motion with bankruptcy court to start liquidating the company immediately. A huge number of jobs are soon to be lost.

“Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce,” said CEO Gregory F. Rayburn in the statement, “and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”

In a letter posted on a new site set up to communicate with employees and suppliers through the liquidation process, Mr. Rayburn pinned the blame on its striking union:

Despite everyone’s considerable efforts to move Hostess out of its restructuring, when we began implementing the Company’s last, best and final offer, the Bakers Union chose to stage a crippling strike. This affected Hostess’ ability to continue to make products and service its customers’ needs and pushed Hostess into a Wind Down scenario. As a result, we are forced to proceed with an orderly wind down and sale of our operations and assets. We deeply regret taking this action. But we simply cannot continue to operate without the ability to produce or deliver our products.

There’s no way to soften the fact that this will hurt every Hostess Brands employee. All Hostess Brands employees will eventually lose their jobs – some sooner than others. Unfortunately, because we are in bankruptcy, there are severe limits on the assistance the Company can offer you at this time.

[exDemMom]

The union members whose greed gave birth to this destruction deserve this. I hope they gain the undying enmity of the non-union members whose jobs they took down with them.

The union hacks deserve this, no argument there. But the rest of us also have to suffer for the union greed. How will we survive without Twinkies?

[Drago]

Co-workers of the bakers union members are airing it out here (scroll down once there):
http://www.twinkies.org/messboard.php?action=show&passdate=2012-11

[babyfreep]

That’s right. One of the strikers interviewed mentioned at the end (as it was fading away), “We don’t want their deal, we’ll make more on unemployment.”

[1010RD]

The consequence will be unions turning to government for more and more intervention and the strengthening of government unions. It’s going to break and soon.

[1010RD]

This strike pitted union against union. The Teamsters accepted the deal and the Bakers went on strike. So, the Bakers fired the Teamsters a la Strike.

[StAnDeliver]

"Adam Hanft, a branding strategist behind Hanft Projects, sees the potential for new life in the death of a decades-old company. A fresh owner of the intellectual property, which includes everything from names to recipes to graphics, could revitalize the Hostess brands, which Mr. Hanft sees as weakened but not lacking potential. He raised the prospect of new flavors, limited-edition Twinkies, products co-branded with independent music groups and the potential for an international reach.

“Its nutritional emptiness in the right hands could be its core strength,” he said, explaining that a buyer that embraces the brand’s “kitschy,” “deliciously retro” feel could be rewarded."

I read this and think: Just Let It Go.

[House Atreides]

The union hacks deserve this, no argument there. But the rest of us also have to suffer for the union greed. How will we survive without Twinkies?
*******************************************************************
True, life no longer has meaning. LOL

[dowcaet]

Hostess was an American institution. The country is literally disintegrating in front of us but you wouldn’t know it by watching the news on the alphabet channels.

[servantboy777]

I heard some twinkie worker make a statement to the press...it was pitiful.

Whah whah whah, we've given this company blood, sweat, tears and my wife has given blood....

You work in a cub cake factory for cryin out loud! You expect to get $30 bucks an hour and lavish perks for a lifetime?

Better update the ol resume.

[randog]

I’m with you Chip. Hostess is a very powerful brand name. Reading the comments on this thread, many of us have our favorite Hostess products and are loyal to them. Mine’s the apple pie. Yeah, there are probably better pastry products out there, but Hostess is comfort food to many Americans, hence a huge stable customer base. I’m sure there are plenty of business concerns out there that realize this and are lining up to purchase the assets. They’ll move the plant(s) to a new union un-friendly location and start cranking out the sugary goodness again.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Any comments by the workers how they feel about this situation?

[Spktyr]

Judging by their on-camera comments, they think it’s great that they can go on FUnemployment. (No typo, that’s what the LA Times was trying to promote it as.)

[Uncle Chip]

Can employees who are out on strike when the company folds collect unemployment???

[Spktyr]

Depends on the state - there’s no Federal rules on it. Many states say no, you can’t.

[Repeat Offender]

I thought they extended it out for a max of 99 weeks?

[Spktyr]

Nope, that was for prior applicants and it runs out December 31. Hasn’t been renewed, doesn’t look like it’s going to be.

[HeadHunter2112]

Truth be told, I haven’t eaten fake Hostess type food in a while (pre diabetes), but we should be able to eat anything we want. If the unions didn’t destroy everything they touched, problem solved.

[from occupied ga]

well tootsie roll (or rather twinkie) how did the unions get such a firm grip on them to start with. If they followed the GM business model, They caved in to union demands in the past and let it go too late.

[from occupied ga]

no it was your rules for radicals tactics that did it. I reiterate find someone else’s leg. You’re boring

[RedMDer]