Tradition of Twinkies, American jobs on shaky ground

17 comments:

• Bingo6 posted at 1:00 pm on Mon, Nov 26, 2012.

  Posts: 246

  The time is fast approaching when the walls around the rich won't be be high enough to keep the workers out.

  The top 1% needs to be afraid.

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• bubba posted at 12:46 pm on Sat, Nov 24, 2012.

  Posts: 318

  TruthSeeker....Please post your source.

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• TruthSeeker posted at 11:58 am on Sat, Nov 24, 2012.

  Posts: 198

  Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers Union (BCTW&GMU) members earn $85,000 per year. Do you feel sorry for them now?

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• bubba posted at 7:10 am on Sat, Nov 24, 2012.

  Posts: 318

  causa latet, vis est notissima

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• loose stool posted at 4:31 am on Sat, Nov 24, 2012.

  Posts: 94

  185000 less people contributing to the democrat money landuring operation. They are getting what they deserve. Obama doesnt care about that state or he would have bought their votes like he did in Ohio.

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• abimopectore posted at 12:19 am on Sat, Nov 24, 2012.

  Posts: 168

  bubba,

  I guess you live up to your name since you're not understanding what bankruptcy means. They weren't making money. I wasn't saying they were being managed correctly. You can have idiots manage a company into the ground and it still not going to matter to the workers if it goes broke. You typify the "rich vs. poor" mentality that folks like to launch at companies. Most good companies don't do what you describe in terms of raises if they're going to exist for long. This was a no win situation. The only sad thing is that there are going to be 15,000 plus workers without a job for the holidays. And this doesn't help anyone, workers and company included.

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• bubba posted at 9:40 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 318

  Leon Ceniceros: Read the article, This is the plight of the AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS WORKING MAN. Thirteen year loyal employee. His wages will go from $16.12 per hour to $11.26 per hour. And Hostess "borrowed" his employee paid retirement, filed bankruptcy and swindled the employees out of it. Corporate America won't be happy untill everybody is working for minimum wage. You didn't raise your family on minimum wage did you Leon? Read it and learn whats happening to the AMERICAN WORKING MAN, Leon. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/18/1162786/-Inside-the-Hostess-Bankery

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• Hal Apeno posted at 7:43 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 11

  The unemployed workers should form a co-op, buy the bankrupt brands, and operate the new company themselves.

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• Hal Apeno posted at 7:39 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 11

  I was always a sno-balls man myself.. good stuff.

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• bubba posted at 6:13 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 318

  Reference to the $3 plus an hour from above:......"July of 2011 we received a letter from the company. It said that the $3+ per hour that we as a Union contribute to the pension was going to be 'borrowed' by the company until they could be profitable again. Then they would pay it all back. The Union was notified of this the same time and method as the individual members. No contact from the company to the Union on a national level."
  "This money will never be paid back. The company filed for bankruptcy and the judge ruled that the $3+ per hour was a debt the company couldn't repay. The Union continued to work despite this theft of our self-funded pension contributions for over a year. I consider this money stolen. No other word in the English language describes what they have done to this money."....Read the complete story at:......

  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/18/1162786/-Inside-the-Hostess-Bankery
  

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• bubba posted at 6:07 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 318

  Some creditors question Hostess pay raises approved in late July.

  Brian Driscoll, CEO, around $750,000 to $2,550,000.
  Gary Wandschneider, EVP, $500,000 to $900,000.
  John Stewart, EVP, $400,000 to $700,000.
  David Loeser, EVP, $375,000 to $656,256.
  Kent Magill, EVP, $375,000 to $656,256.
  Richard Seban, EVP, $375,000 to $656,256.
  John Akeson, SVP, $300,000 to $480,000.
  Steven Birgfeld, SVP, $240,000 to $360,000.
  Martha Ross, SVP, $240,000 to $360,000.
  Rob Kissick, SVP, $182,000 to $273,008.

  This is a run down from a guy that works in the bakery:............................................................................................................................What was this last/best/final offer? You'd never know by watching the main stream media tell the story. So here you go...
  1) 8% hourly pay cut in year 1 with additional cuts totaling 27% over 5 years. Currently, I make $16.12 an hour at TOP rate of pay in the bakery. I would drop to $11.26 in 5 years.
  2) They get to keep our $3+ an hour forever.
  3) Doubling of weekly insurance premium.
  4) Lowering of overall quality of insurance plan.
  5) TOTAL withdrawal from ALL pensions. If you don't have it now then you never will.

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• bubba posted at 5:37 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 318

  abimopectore;.....Hostess was apparently profitable enough for the CEO to receive a 300% raise.

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• abimopectore posted at 5:14 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 168

  Businesses are created and exist to make money. If they don't, they don't last long. Hostess wasn't making money because of many factors, including POOR management. As much as I wish to empathize with the its workers, the restructuring required by the management was NECESSARY in spite of how the company has been previously poorly managed. I don't know of any business that models itself after how well it takes care of its workers without FIRST considering whether they're getting the return on investment required for them to continue functioning. This is what people better start realizing because you're not going to start producing good jobs for anyone if there is NOT a business environment within the country that promotes the growth needed for businesses to make money. You can continue assailing businesses and companies for everything you don't like about the "rich vs. the poor" attitudes that have characterized the recent Presidential campaign, but it's not going to produce healthy jobs in the long run if these very businesses and companies don't make money.

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• TruthSeeker posted at 3:48 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 198

  Why hasn't anyone reported what the salary of these union workers was? I'm sure you'd be shocked to find it is probably three times what someone in the private sector makes. At the base of this debacle is only one thing: GREED! The employer giving 80% raises to their executives leading up to the bankruptcy, and the union workers not willing to give in to keep their jobs. If I had been one of their "loyal" employees, I would be grateful just to have a job during the company's rocky times, hoping that prosperity would return through this bumpy ride. Instead, the union members shot themselves in the foot. Do I feel sorry for them? No, it was self-inflicted.

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• bubba posted at 3:19 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 318

  Wal-Mart employees may be starting a trend that will either start corporations on a sensible track or lead this nation's middle class into revolt....http://prospect.org/article/why-you-shouldnt-shop-wal-mart-friday

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• aaarrrggghhh posted at 2:58 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 33

  Really the only bright light in this article is Bob Williams' comment about how Hostess execs are just trying to force down wages of the company's workforce. At the same time that the Hostess execs gave themselves enormous raises. http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/hostess.asp - It sure is a "sign of the times" - it's a sign that the wealthy of this country could not care less about the workforce and will use and abuse them however they can get away with. Hostess execs, you are a despicable bunch.
  

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• bubba posted at 2:48 pm on Fri, Nov 23, 2012.

  Posts: 318

  It's tragic that people seem more upset about not having twinkies, than the 18,500 people that will lose their jobs. This country is in big trouble. Corporations aren't willing to bear some of these economic setbacks, they are just gonna' Bain their way out.

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