

Twinkies and Wonder Bread are history as Hostess shuts down after labor dispute - ck2
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/hostess-to-wind-down-ops-lay-off-its-18500-workers-sell-brands-following-labor-strike/2012/11/16/69476a6e-2fef-11e2-af17-67abba0676e2_story.html

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atacrawl
After two bankruptcies and a major strike, perhaps pulling the plug was the
only solution.

 _Side note: this is a terrible submission title. For one, that's not the
headline of the linked article, and two, these brands aren't "history" -- they
will be sold to other companies just like all their other assets._

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temp16
This is the side effect of who is in power in Washington. Labor unions have
been steadily growing stronger under this administration.

We haven't seen companies shutting down because of labor unions at least in a
while. Yes there are strikes at companies but it finally works out.

This is just the beginning and there will be many more to follow where a good
company shuts down and thousands loose their jobs. In this, 18000 workers will
loose their job. Thanks to Labor unions.

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ck2
Only 30% of their workforce is union.

And they had offers to sell the company to other bakeries.

There might have been some management/investment shenanigans going on

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joshuahedlund
My political bias is pre-disposed to want to blame the union for this, and I'm
sure the truth is more nuanced (more competition with healthy snacks, etc),
but man, the things I've read so far sure aren't helping... Sure, a ~10% pay
cut sucks, cue discussion about stagnant wages and all that, but if your
company is struggling that's gotta be better than a 100% cut.

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ck2
Before you start hording them to ebay, etc. the idea that Twinkies last
forever is a complete myth. They are "only" good for 25 days before they
spoil.

Fun fact: twinkies were created to look like a banana alternative and first
filled with banana filling - during WorldWar II when there was a banana
shortage

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bsg75
And alas, they are not the Twinkies of my childhood. Tried one a couple years
ago, and don't recall them being so "oily".

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webwanderings
One less source of more Carbs for this world?

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TheAmazingIdiot
I will remind people here the following: Indiana is a right-to-work state.
This was passed last year.

Right to work lowers employer burden why someone is laid off/fired. Along with
that, makes it a felony to require union dues to work at a company. However,
the union is still required to represent you upon its charter.

Hostess also lost a sizable chunk of money with the lawsuit concerning Sachs
donuts. Because of things I do not understand, Hostess had to kill all lines
of yeast donuts and all "packaged fresh" yeast donuts. And from talking to
employees of Hostess in Columbus,IN, those machines were scrapped.

A good reason why the union was giving hell was Hostess wanted to cut wages by
almost 20%: the union already agreed to a 10% cut and reduction of benefits.
Hostess wanted 9% more, and threw a tantrum here locally.

Who was in the right? I have no idea. But it looks the the nuclear option was
used: blow it to the ground.

~~~
ck2
Apparently they also turned down selling to another bakery.

Not sure what was up with that, but there was definitely profit to be had if
they didn't want to sell.

Strange that moving $2.5 Billion of product a year isn't profitable. Doesn't
sound right.

