Full story is here, but here is the tl;dr verisonL http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,3175964.story
Hostess workers had been on strike these past two weeks to protest further pay cuts (~20-25% I believe), and the company said it did not have the cash to survive an elongated strike. The company had declared bankruptcy in 2004 and hasn't been on stable ground for over a decade, perhaps as growing concern over how unhealthy their products are curbed demand a bit.
Some where saying that Hostess planned on taking the entire operation to private equity anyway, or liquidating the whole organization, and the strike was a cover. Others say that the bakers (hell, lets call them what they really are...chemists), being blue-collar workers, had no leverage anyway and their greed doomed the firm.
What do you think? Do you think any of these brands will be picked up and marketed by other firms? Will you miss any of these products (I mean seriously, I don't know anybody who actually bought a Twinkie in years)?
I know I'll try to make some phone calls to Hostess employees over the next 2 weeks to offer them new jobs, but I'm not sure how quickly others will be able to find new gigs...
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Chicago Tribune
Hostess Brands Inc., the bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said it had sought court permission to go out of business after failing to get wage and benefit cuts from thousands of its striking bakery workers.
Hostess said a national strike by members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union that began last week had crippled its ability to produce and deliver products at several facilities. Hostess Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn said in an interview on CNBC Friday morning that Hostess could not avoid liquidation, even if members of its bakers' union ended their strike immediately and went back to work. The liquidation of the company will mean that most of its 18,500 employees will lose their jobs, Hostess said on Friday. In the Chicago area, Hostess employs about 300 workers making CupCakes, HoHos and Honey Buns in Schiller Park. Hostess also has a bakery in Hodgkins, where 325 workers make Beefsteak, Butternut, Home Pride, Natures Pride and Wonder breads. The 82-year-old company said it took the decision to shut down after determining that not enough employees had returned to work by a deadline on Thursday. The company, which filed for bankruptcy in January for the second time since 2004, said it had filed a motion with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York, for permission to shut down and sell assets. Irving, Texas-based Hostess has 565 distribution centers and 570 bakery outlet stores, as well as the 33 bakeries. Its brands include Wonder, Nature's Pride, Dolly Madison, Drake's, Butternut, Home Pride and Merita, but it is probably best known for Twinkies -- basically a cream-filled sponge cake. "We deeply regret the necessity of today's decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike," Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn said in a statement. "Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders," Rayburn added. Union President Frank Hurt said on Thursday that the crisis at the company was the "result of nearly a decade of financial and operational mismanagement" and that management was trying to make union workers the scapegoats for a plan by Wall Street investors to sell Hostess |
Some where saying that Hostess planned on taking the entire operation to private equity anyway, or liquidating the whole organization, and the strike was a cover. Others say that the bakers (hell, lets call them what they really are...chemists), being blue-collar workers, had no leverage anyway and their greed doomed the firm.
What do you think? Do you think any of these brands will be picked up and marketed by other firms? Will you miss any of these products (I mean seriously, I don't know anybody who actually bought a Twinkie in years)?
I know I'll try to make some phone calls to Hostess employees over the next 2 weeks to offer them new jobs, but I'm not sure how quickly others will be able to find new gigs...