Hostess Twinkies Are Coming Back - With Non-Union Workers!

Well, now this is some great news! After the baker's union shut down Hostess last year and forced thousands of people out of work, a new company has bought Hostess and will be employing at least 1500 people around the country. The new hires will be non-union so the chance of another shut-down by a union is ZERO.

Hostess Reopening Plants, Without Union Workers​

April 26, 2013
The bankrupt assets of Hostess Brands, Inc., the company responsible for Twinkies, Ho Ho's, Sno Balls and Ding Dongs, are being put back to work by a buyout firm. What's not being put back to work are the former Hostess unionized employees.

The unionized workers had been on strike when the company folded late last year.

The company had imposed a contract that would cut its 19,000 workers' wages — 15,000 of whom belonged to the workers from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) — by 8 percent. (The Teamsters was Hostess' largest union, followed by BCTGM.) The contract would have also cut benefits by 27 to 32 percent.

Hostess filed for Chapter 11 in January 2012. In November 2012, the company announced it would be shutting its doors for good. By that time, it had lost about $1.1 billion, largely due to bankruptcy filings.

But last month Apollo Global Management, LLC, and Metropoulos & Co., which owns Pabst Blue Ribbon and Vlasic pickles, bought the 83-year-old company for $410 million, renaming it Hostess Brands LLC. It is planning to re-open four bakeries over the next two and a half months, in Columbus, Ga.; Emporia, Kan.; Schiller Park, Ill.; and Indianapolis. It is also contemplating a fifth in Los Angeles.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, C. Dean Metropoulos, the company's chief executive, said that between now and September, he plans to inject $60 million in capital investments into the plants, and hopes to hire at least 1,500 workers.

But those workers won't be unionized.

"It appears that they are discharging the union contract in bankruptcy," said Matthew A. Kaufman, a labor attorney in Los Angeles who is not affiliated with the case.

While Metropoulos did not respond to interview requests from ABC News, he told the Journal that he does "not expect to be involved in the union going forward."

A spokesman for the Teamsters declined to comment. But in a November 2012 statement the Teamsters noted that the "BCTGM's leaders are putting Teamster members in a horrible position – asking them to support a strike that will put them out of a job when they haven't even asked all their members to go on strike."

A spokeswoman for the BCTGM did not return phone calls to ABC News. In a March statement, BTCGM president David Durkee said, "We share the enthusiasm, energy and passions exhibited by new ownership, and believe our highly-motivated and skilled workforce will serve as indispensable partners in the seamless re-opening of factories," he said.

But, according to the Journal, Metropoulos and his son, Daren, felt confident that they would be able to hire non-union employees near the new plants.

"We're trying to find the most qualified people in these local markets to come work for the company," Daren Metropoulos told the Journal.

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http://abcnews.go.com/Business/twinkies-return-hostess-unions/story?id=19043854#.UX_Ec5UTtBw​

 

Wasn't Hostess the same company that gave their top execs enormous bonuses all the while losing market share due to the public's taste for more healthy food alternatives? But now, the workers that had taken pay cuts previously are responsible for the company failing. Hey, as long the Right-wing is white-washing Bush's 8 miserable years, you might as well white-wash the truth here as well. What's next? The sun didn't rise yesterday morning?

Why do you hate the workers of this country?

 

Why do you hate the workers of this country?

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Why do you hate the workers of this country?

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Why do you hate the workers of this country?

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Why do you hate the workers of this country?

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Why do you hate the workers of this country?

 

You must be kidding me. You actually think I hate the workers of this country? It was the union who forced all those people out of their jobs and I'm celebrating re-employment of some of those workers. You're the one who backs unions and their job-killing tactics. You're the one who hates the workers of this country. Fool.

 

You blame the unions for management's poor decisions. You cheer that the workers have no collective representation. You ignore the fact that the workers, through their union, negotiated reduced benefits to keep the company going during their first bankruptcy. And finally, you ignore the huge raises management gave themselves while workers took cuts.

I'd have to conclude that you do hate the workers of this country. You prove it every time you post.

 

"If I were the devil I’d take from those, and who have, and give to those wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. " Paul Harvey published in 1964

 

I've recently hired a contractor to work on a major construction project for me and the subject of union vs non-union came up. He said he only hires non-union workers because the quality of their work is better even though it costs him more to hire the skilled non-union guys.

 

I once heard myself say that I could fart butterflies...

 

I recently hired a company to remove some very large trees from my property. I called a guy, got an estimate, and eventually accepted a bid. When the guy showed up, he had 5 Mexican (I assume) workers that actually did all of the work while the American company owner showed up, met me, and then left for most of the day. I got to talking to the guy who seemed to be giving the orders, well, his English was about ass good as my Spanish, and he told me that all the other guys were hired that morning while he worked for the company on a regular basis. I asked how much he paid the other guys and he said proudly $7.50 cash an hour but only for the time they actually worked. I laer estimated the the entire labor cost for this job was under $300 for all 5 guys. I bet that these day laborers had no union, no benefits, no way to get compensated for work injuries, and they still paid in Social Security. This is Right-wing utopia. If they had their way, we'd all be day laborers and living hand to mouth.

 

If they were willing to work for $7.50 an hour, what's the problem? Why didn't you pay them more?

 

Why? It is called Free Market Economy. He demeans it unless it is working to his personal benefit.

 

As long as we have a great American that is willing to hire undocumented workers, pay them nothing, given them no benefits, and exploit their situation and then turn around and scream about illegals, why would I supplement his exploitation?

BTW My story is as made up as David's story. The only difference is that I admit it openly while he keeps making up convenient stories to fit the current topics.

 

Well, see, you'd be wrong again!

 

Isn't a denial from the person you are accusing of lying sort of meaningless? Of course it is.

 

Well, I was basing my questions on your lie. If you actually DID hire someone to take your trees out, how much would you pay him? Or if you hired a gardener for your estate, what do you think his hourly wage should be? How much should a maid earn per hour? How about a ranch hand? What do you think they're worth per hour?

 

Or as meaningless as an accusation coming from you? That's what I thought.