Twinkies is going out of business !

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TXgolfer said:
Again, totally irrelevant to the business.
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I disagree with you and cost of living has relevant to the business.
 
CrazyPaul said:
I concur. I suspect that Txgolfer is a CEO since he always speaks for other CEOs. :hmm: And also he's obviously anti-union.
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Yup, I bet so and I don't trust him.
 
TXgolfer said:
The thing that killed them more than anything else was technology, not to mention strikes in all four major sports (a large part of which was licensing) Tons of screeners were hurt during that time. Same thing happened to trading cards and Pro Player. Starter was hurt as well. FOTL was a terrible fit for them, but I think they were doomed anyway.

I still have some of the shirts. :)
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I have no idea what happened to the rest of the company, if they were having problems my old plant might have gone down with them anyway. But I'm just talking about that one plant, a couple friends managed to stay on because they moved up into R&D so they knew what was up. They couldn't fill their orders and lost to many contracts because of it. They didn't have people that knew how to run the presses effectively. Like I said, they went from printing 40K shirts a shift to 5K, because nobody knew what they were doing, they fired all the people that knew how to run the presses, set up the jobs and take of any printing problems. Just showing the mentality of not valuing a workers skills and knowledge. squirting cream into a spongecake.
 
TXgolfer said:
I am not surprised that you think that.
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Not really, our business professor told us that cost living is relevant with business, so open the business is more expensive in NYC than in Atlanta.
 
ambrosia said:
I have no idea what happened to the rest of the company, if they were having problems my old plant might have gone down with them anyway. But I'm just talking about that one plant, a couple friends managed to stay on because they moved up into R&D so they knew what was up. They couldn't fill their orders and lost to many contracts because of it. They didn't have people that knew how to run the presses effectively. Like I said, they went from printing 40K shirts a shift to 5K, because nobody knew what they were doing, they fired all the people that knew how to run the presses, set up the jobs and take of any printing problems. Just showing the mentality of not valuing a workers skills and knowledge. squirting cream into a spongecake.
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FOTL shut down many plants that they acquired. Most likely this move was intentional as they transitioned production overseas. It is not surprising really. I'm sure it sucked, but that is business.
 
Foxrac said:
Not really, our business professor told us that cost living is relevant with business, so open the business is more expensive in NYC than in Atlanta.
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That part would be true.....and it is exactly the point I made several pages ago. However as a matter of wage negotiation (which is what we are discussing) cost of living is totally irrelevant.
 
TXgolfer said:
That part would be true.....and it is exactly the point I made several pages ago. However as a matter of wage negotiation (which is what we are discussing) cost of living is totally irrelevant.
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I disagree - the wage has relevant to cost of living.
 
TXgolfer said:
That part would be true.....and it is exactly the point I made several pages ago. However as a matter of wage negotiation (which is what we are discussing) cost of living is totally irrelevant.
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Then please explain what COLA means.
 
Union is just stupid nowadays, if one is not happy with pay and job, who is stopping that person from looking for another job?

This country is based on Capitalism, anyone is free to make money, and more money.
 
diehardbiker said:
Union is just stupid nowadays, if one is not happy with pay and job, who is stopping that person from looking for another job?

This country is based on Capitalism, anyone is free to make money, and more money.
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Looking for other job will not make any better, so that why workers have to make organized and have to be unionized so they can try to have fair share and improve the work condition.
 
CrazyPaul said:
I disagree. Blue-collar workers have nothing to do with bankruptcy. CEOs failed to do their jobs as they knew that its products were getting less popular because they were not good for health and more people are aware of their healths nowsdays than before. They failed to make new products that would be healthy for customers. Blue-collar people only did their jobs as instructed. CEOs knew that the business was going down and yet they gave themselves a BIG raise. WTF? Again, they expect bonuses as it will close down soon. I think that they still owe retirees 160 millions dollars.
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no. union exists because of them. union is not agreeing to settle on it or even compromise... so it's their downfall.
 
TXgolfer said:
Not really, CEO's are "talent" and usually pricey commodities. There are fewer at the top so increases in salary have little impact on the bottom line. When a company is in trouble it is fairly common to pay higher ups more to keep them from jumping off a sinking ship. Especially if it is believed those executives are the right people for turning the company around. (in this case that is somewhat suspect).
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in this case - I agree.
 
Jiro said:
no. union exists because of them. union is not agreeing to settle on it so it's their downfall.
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and executives too because they don't cut their pay and make compromise.

If executives make fair, such as pay cut so unions will take pay cut for their workers too.
 
Twinkie Maker Hostess to Close - WSJ.com
It also showed organized labor's willingness to test the boundaries of wage and benefit givebacks. During and after the 2008 financial crisis, auto workers and others readily agreed to concessions deemed crucial for survival. But this year, workers at Caterpillar Inc. CAT -0.34% and Hostess walked off the job instead. Caterpillar's union later relented.
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Hostess's latest woes took hold when thousands of employees in its bakers union went on strike Nov. 9 in protest of a court-imposed labor contract that cut wages, commissions, and health care benefits and changed the structure of pension plans in a way that could reduce payouts to retirees.

The strike affected roughly two thirds of Hostess's 36 plants, and made it impossible for the company to continue producing its baked goods, Hostess said Friday.

The company's burdensome debt traces back to Hostess's first trip through bankruptcy in 2004. Missteps by a private-equity firm, hedge funds and managers since burdened the company, despite its more than $2 billion in annual sales.

"I think there's blame to go around everywhere," said Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn, a turnaround expert hired this year.

Increased costs for ingredients and fuel, a failure to adjust to demands for healthier foods, and the U.S. recession combined to weaken Hostess.

A liquidation has loomed large since Hostess's latest bankruptcy case kicked off in January. From the start, the company has warned that labor cuts were its only chance to survive.

Months of back-and-forth threats and court proceedings ultimately led to delivery-truck drivers and some plant workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to agree to deep concessions, but the bakers' union, known as the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, resisted.

In the end, a bankruptcy judge gave Hostess permission to force the bakers union to accept a new five-year labor contract that featured an 8% wage cut in the first year, new pension plan restrictions and a 17% increase in health care costs for employees.

The bakers' union went on strike. "Our members decided they were not going to take any more abuse from a company they have given so much to for so many years," said Frank Hurt, the bakers' union president, in a statement Friday evening.

However, the Teamsters on Friday stood by its decision to accept the proposed cuts. As the bakers' union went on strike, the Teamsters largely didn't cross picket lines, said Ken Hall, the Teamsters' treasurer and general secretary. They picked up Hostess products for delivery when there weren't picket lines present, he said.
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Hostess management said work rules from existing labor agreements made it hard to improve productivity and spend money efficiently. For example, some rules required different workers to deliver bread and cakes, the company said.
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CrazyPaul said:
Then please explain what COLA means.
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You are not grasping the point. Simply put, A CEO's job is to manage the bottom line. That is what matters. An employees cost of living is entirely irrelevant except when considering whether or not location changes may result in cheaper labor.
 
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