Um, about that mean union that killed the Hostess Twinkie....
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Um, about that mean union that killed the Hostess Twinkie....
Actually, the real killer was Colonel Moneybags in the boardroom with a money siphon:
Hostess Brands Inc. said it used wages that were supposed to help fund employee pensions for the company's operations as it sank toward bankruptcy.
It isn't clear how many of the Irving, Texas, company's workers were affected by the move or how much money never wound up in their pension plans as promised.
After the company said in August 2011 that it would stop making pension contributions, the foregone wages weren't put toward the pension. Nor were they restored.
The maker of Twinkies, Ho-Hos and Wonder Bread filed for bankruptcy protection in January and shut down last month following a strike by one of the unions representing Hostess workers. A judge is overseeing the sale of company assets.
Gregory Rayburn, Hostess's chief executive officer, said in an interview it is "terrible" that employee wages earmarked for the pension were steered elsewhere by the company.
But I'm sure it's still the union's fault? Somehow. Am I right?
Comments (98)
And what management took pay cuts when the company was so "desparate"? Oh, pay raises you say?
Nevermind....— podunko- I hate this attitude where one must lick the boots of these execs to keep a job. Why workers feel this way is beyond comprehension. And more and more workers have this way. Unions prevent this silly way of thinking. It is like slavery. Very upsetting. Where is your self respect?— ephraim
- These "men" have been castrated long ago. They are a bunch of pants-wetting grovelers. Whatever the big boss man says....
To answer your question, the have no self-respect. Take my pension money, my wife, my children... yes master, yes master...— carl and sons - I don't have any faith in this hack columnist but I do appreciate the intelligent commenters on both sides of the issues. From all of your input, I think the company ran it's course and was going out of business. Not sure either the union or management could save it.— Gray Areas
When textile mills in the South (and later, Japan) started attracting business at the expense of the mills here in Philadelphia, the unions often refused to coöperate with management to find ways to compete more effectively. By not accepting any adjustments in work rules or compensation, they left mill owners like my father no choice but to merge with out-of-state operations or simply go out of business.
I remember my dad's anguish when workers his company had supported through the worst of the Depression defiantly rejected any attempt to negotiate terms that would have allowed the mill to survive. As a result, hundreds lost their jobs in what could only be described as a Pyrrhic victory for the intransigent union leadership.
It was a searing childhood memory for me, and an early lesson I never forgot.- Wow, what a story.
Your father sounds like a man of integrity. I wonder if his story is part of the MBA programs that that produce todays "managers".
— michael_b - Nice picture. Was your dad a snake too, or did that come from your mom's side? — carl and sons
- You home from school early today, Carl?
You might want to get your homework done before posting...
— michael_b 
Comment removed.- If someone broke in my house and stole my TV because they wanted to watch the Eagles game, at first I may be be upset, but after thinking about the other end of the spectrum I would understand because watching the Eagles is fun, and if they promised to bring my TV back after the game and also if the Eagles win I would be all for it.
After they bought the tools that allowed them to pry off my doorknob, and if the American dream is to continue everyone has to have a TV to watch the Eagles with. Some people feel entitled just because they went to Best Buy and paid for the TV themselves with their own money, but where did that kind of thinking ever get anyone? Those people don't think about anyone but themselves and the Eagles still might lose the game. Also I would let them take my beer.— carl and sons - I am by no means pro-union, but I have to side with the union in this issue.. I am sick and tired of these corporate MBA-types that pilfer profitable companies for their short-term gain. Their should be an enforceable law against pilfering a pension fund, where if found guilty, the corporate managers would be personally liable to refund/replenish the funds..— USAFirst1
- What are these "Pension" things everyone keeps talking about? I mean they sound great. My employer has to keep paying me a salary even after I stopped working. Sign me up.
Maybe I can find an employer where I get paid to pretend to work by just pointing out the real work of the people around me who are working.— barlowjames1 - Maybe you'll die of starvation on the street somewhere. — carl and sons
- "When do we get some investigative journalism into the feds dipping into my coercively extracted social security "contributions"?" I think I speak for all people of reason when I say you are completely bereft of any clue whatsoever. If you want to know the history of Hostess, look at the number of times concessions were agreed upon, only to have senior management attempt to extract more. This is the same senior management that gave themselves raises. The conclusion is that most likely the business model is what did the company in. Their sales are what hurt them.— Murrayman
- No way, Will. You sided with a union? Shocker!— TVGuy22
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