After months of coercive threats, Hostess Brands is filing for bankruptcy for the second time in less than a decade. Hostess has assets galore- 40 odd bakeries with replacement values of $10,000,000 and up, around 400 depots and thrift stores on valuable retail turf that are easily worth at least a million apiece, 10,000 smaller trucks, 1000 big trucks, and 2000 semitrailers worth a few hundred million. Even the odds and ends of the asset inventory are huge- like around a hundred thousand shipping "racks" worth several hundred dollars each and god only knows how many baking pans and such.
Biggest losers in this corporate shakedown are the workers- Hostess owes damn near a billion to the bakers pension fund alone, and there's a bunch of other pension funds Hostess has stiffed as well. These are hard working folks- less than a hundred Bakers can bake enough bread to feed several million mouths, and it takes only another hundred or so Teamsters to deliver it.
Some background read it all here ----------
http://www.dailykos....s-For-a-Billion
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Teamster Hostess worker's Facing Bankruptcy Again
Started by xg22, Jan 12 2012 04:07 AM
12 replies to this topic
#1
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Posted January 12 2012 - 04:07 AM
xg21 is now xg22 due to brutal technical difficulties
#2
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Posted January 24 2012 - 06:06 AM
I have worked for Wonder Bread since 1983. I have watched them deteriorate to what they are now over the last 15 years. Not the last 7 including the first bk.
Here is what I sent to the WSJ and NY Post.................
Sent: Sat Nov 12 16:28:43 2011
Subject: in re; Dough's kneaded: Hostess, unions talking contract
I have worked for this company for 28 years now. I have seen us at the top and I have seen us struggle. But to the points in your article of 11-10-11.,
Our CEO claims that more concessions are needed to get the company back in the black. Two years ago they were quite satisfied as they were granted concessions to the tune of about $60,000,000 per year between wage cuts and health insurance co-pays. Since then they have outsourced almost 90% of office work as well as have decided to stop contributing to our pension. There's another approximate $100,000,000 per year if you use 20,000 employees multiplied by $100 per week. And labor has been cut to the point where I personally have 2,3,4 jobs a day now. But we don't see management being cut proportionately and in fact have seen muddle management jobs added. Why? We have too many production supervisors and too many maintenance supervisors. A few months back there was a meeting in Irving Texas in which certain manages flew in for a conference. Really? What's wrong with GoToMeeting.com? We have a distribution middle manager who flies all over is eastern business unit doing the same thing that could be done via computer or outsourced. I work in a high speed bakery in Hodgkins Illinois and yet we are running at about 60% of capacity by design. Other bakeries in our region make the same bread we used to make here and ship it to us. Why? Why is there no consolidation in order to cut costs? We also make many varieties that people really do not buy? Why don't we cut them? We also have about 700 thrift stores that actually sell fresh product at a cheaper price thereby competing with your on route men in that area. Why? And these 'thrift stores' sell 80% of their product which is not even produced by us. We are not a grocer. We have poor business practices that will never be relieved by concessions from labor. Not if they wish to continue with this shabby model they're practicing at this point.
Now as far as our fixed costs being too high? We have a very successful competitor called Turano Baking in the area. Their employees make $1 less per hour and have HC benefits. I'm quite sure they pay the same amount of money for fuel, flour, sugar and other commodities. But they aren't in trouble.
The bottom line is that our ownership refuses to make business moves and prefers to go after labor as they increase their management team. And our pension costs? They knew that when they took us over.
Here is what I sent to the WSJ and NY Post.................
Sent: Sat Nov 12 16:28:43 2011
Subject: in re; Dough's kneaded: Hostess, unions talking contract
I have worked for this company for 28 years now. I have seen us at the top and I have seen us struggle. But to the points in your article of 11-10-11.,
Our CEO claims that more concessions are needed to get the company back in the black. Two years ago they were quite satisfied as they were granted concessions to the tune of about $60,000,000 per year between wage cuts and health insurance co-pays. Since then they have outsourced almost 90% of office work as well as have decided to stop contributing to our pension. There's another approximate $100,000,000 per year if you use 20,000 employees multiplied by $100 per week. And labor has been cut to the point where I personally have 2,3,4 jobs a day now. But we don't see management being cut proportionately and in fact have seen muddle management jobs added. Why? We have too many production supervisors and too many maintenance supervisors. A few months back there was a meeting in Irving Texas in which certain manages flew in for a conference. Really? What's wrong with GoToMeeting.com? We have a distribution middle manager who flies all over is eastern business unit doing the same thing that could be done via computer or outsourced. I work in a high speed bakery in Hodgkins Illinois and yet we are running at about 60% of capacity by design. Other bakeries in our region make the same bread we used to make here and ship it to us. Why? Why is there no consolidation in order to cut costs? We also make many varieties that people really do not buy? Why don't we cut them? We also have about 700 thrift stores that actually sell fresh product at a cheaper price thereby competing with your on route men in that area. Why? And these 'thrift stores' sell 80% of their product which is not even produced by us. We are not a grocer. We have poor business practices that will never be relieved by concessions from labor. Not if they wish to continue with this shabby model they're practicing at this point.
Now as far as our fixed costs being too high? We have a very successful competitor called Turano Baking in the area. Their employees make $1 less per hour and have HC benefits. I'm quite sure they pay the same amount of money for fuel, flour, sugar and other commodities. But they aren't in trouble.
The bottom line is that our ownership refuses to make business moves and prefers to go after labor as they increase their management team. And our pension costs? They knew that when they took us over.
Liberalism has put this nation on life support. Thinking for yourself is antithetical to liberalism. Blind allegiance is the utmost rule in liberalism...............and unionism.
#3
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Posted February 12 2012 - 07:49 AM
i would think it is better to try and work through this trouble getting a paycheck than an unemployement check or even worse a picket duty check remember if it really gets bad there is always a slip on the shop floor for a workers compensation check or a fall at home for a state disability check ;-o
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Posted February 13 2012 - 01:04 PM
dumfck, on February 12 2012 - 07:49 AM, said:
i would think it is better to try and work through this trouble getting a paycheck than an unemployement check or even worse a picket duty check remember if it really gets bad there is always a slip on the shop floor for a workers compensation check or a fall at home for a state disability check ;-o
You're something else. We took a strike vote. It passed. I thought you were one of those who says 'whatever the union says, do' type of guys. But what do you do? You encourage fraud. Geez you're a fool.
Liberalism has put this nation on life support. Thinking for yourself is antithetical to liberalism. Blind allegiance is the utmost rule in liberalism...............and unionism.
#5
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Posted February 17 2012 - 07:59 AM
just trying to fill that wallet that you were crying is much less full now i did not encourage fraud slip ups can happen at work suddenly when your mind is not on the job at hand due to focusing on what new anti union rant you will i post on t-net or may even happen at home or outside of work when you least expect it getting out of your vehicle slip on a sheet of ice and hit your head or a sheet is put over your head and you end up with a massive headache
#6
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Posted February 26 2012 - 04:25 PM
When is the fleecing of our workforce going to end.No one likes to strike however this is one one of those times where there is no other choice!
#7
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Posted March 01 2012 - 07:09 AM
yeah strike that is the ticket i will be with you in spirit and send some little debbie's to ibc734 his picture looks like he enjoys sweetcakes.;-o swak
#8
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Posted April 06 2012 - 12:56 AM
Yikes! Twinkie maker execs gave themselves huge raises up to 300%, then went bankrupt
The looting of Hostess brands by its top executives is an object lesson in how CEO pay harms the 99 percent and kills the U.S. economy.
Dow Jones had the scoop yesterday: The troubled Twinkie maker's executives gave themselves big raises before seeking bankruptcy protection. Reports the news service;
Unsecured creditors suspect that Hostess Brands Inc. may have "manipulated" its executives' pay--sending its former chief executive's salary, in particular, skyrocketing- in the months leading up to its Chapter 11 filing, in an effort to dodge the Bankruptcy Code's compensation requirements, according to a redacted court filing reviewed by Dow Jones.
The official committee representing Hostess's unsecured creditors wants to launch a formal investigation in the bankruptcy case, hoping to dig deeper into the bakery company's senior executive compensation. The information the group has already gathered suggests "the possibility" that the company converted a chunk of its top executives' pay from performance-based bonuses to guaranteed salary, "at least in part to sidestep" rules designed to ensure that companies in bankruptcy aren't enticing their employees to stay on board with the promise of cash.
http://www.teamster....%E2%80%99-execs
As Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said,
The Dow Jones article suggests that management broke the law, looted the company and then told workers to suck it up and sacrifice.
If this is true, Hostess executives have violated their agreement with the Teamsters that all parties, including management, would share equally in concessions that would help keep this company alive.
It would be outrageous for the board of directors, which included secured lenders, to approve executive salary increases of up to 300 percent for a company that has filed for bankruptcy twice in four years.
more
http://www.teamster....-top-executives
CEOs are looting their corporations at the expense of innovation, trainng and employment, writes William Lazonick, the director of the UMass Center for Industrial Competitiveness.
CEOs have an incentive to inflate the price of their company's stock. They do it by buying back the company's own shares (called a stock buyback), which raises the share price. And as Lazonick points out, the practice of stock buybacks has gotten out of control:
In other words, they're destroying the US economy.
http://www.nakedcapi...99-percent.html
Hostess management would like you to believe the company is failing because union workers make too much money and enjoy benefits that are too rich. In another era it would be hard to believe that executives driving a company into bankruptcy would make such a brazen claim. Especially since former CEO Brian Driscoll's salaray rose from $750,000 to $2.55 million in the run-up to bankruptcy -- and other executives' pay rose by as much as 80 percent.
But this is the age of corporate greed. It is now the norm rather than the exception for CEOs to put their own greed ahead of the interests of the company they've been entrusted to run.
more
http://www.reuters.c...E80A0I120120111
The looting of Hostess brands by its top executives is an object lesson in how CEO pay harms the 99 percent and kills the U.S. economy.
Dow Jones had the scoop yesterday: The troubled Twinkie maker's executives gave themselves big raises before seeking bankruptcy protection. Reports the news service;
Unsecured creditors suspect that Hostess Brands Inc. may have "manipulated" its executives' pay--sending its former chief executive's salary, in particular, skyrocketing- in the months leading up to its Chapter 11 filing, in an effort to dodge the Bankruptcy Code's compensation requirements, according to a redacted court filing reviewed by Dow Jones.
The official committee representing Hostess's unsecured creditors wants to launch a formal investigation in the bankruptcy case, hoping to dig deeper into the bakery company's senior executive compensation. The information the group has already gathered suggests "the possibility" that the company converted a chunk of its top executives' pay from performance-based bonuses to guaranteed salary, "at least in part to sidestep" rules designed to ensure that companies in bankruptcy aren't enticing their employees to stay on board with the promise of cash.
http://www.teamster....%E2%80%99-execs
As Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said,
The Dow Jones article suggests that management broke the law, looted the company and then told workers to suck it up and sacrifice.
If this is true, Hostess executives have violated their agreement with the Teamsters that all parties, including management, would share equally in concessions that would help keep this company alive.
It would be outrageous for the board of directors, which included secured lenders, to approve executive salary increases of up to 300 percent for a company that has filed for bankruptcy twice in four years.
more
http://www.teamster....-top-executives
CEOs are looting their corporations at the expense of innovation, trainng and employment, writes William Lazonick, the director of the UMass Center for Industrial Competitiveness.
CEOs have an incentive to inflate the price of their company's stock. They do it by buying back the company's own shares (called a stock buyback), which raises the share price. And as Lazonick points out, the practice of stock buybacks has gotten out of control:
In other words, they're destroying the US economy.
http://www.nakedcapi...99-percent.html
Hostess management would like you to believe the company is failing because union workers make too much money and enjoy benefits that are too rich. In another era it would be hard to believe that executives driving a company into bankruptcy would make such a brazen claim. Especially since former CEO Brian Driscoll's salaray rose from $750,000 to $2.55 million in the run-up to bankruptcy -- and other executives' pay rose by as much as 80 percent.
But this is the age of corporate greed. It is now the norm rather than the exception for CEOs to put their own greed ahead of the interests of the company they've been entrusted to run.
more
http://www.reuters.c...E80A0I120120111
xg21 is now xg22 due to brutal technical difficulties
#9
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Posted April 15 2012 - 03:02 PM
Here's the deal folks. The execs pay has ZERO to do with what is going on now. Or are you union lap dogs willing
to concede the fact that our locals that represent Hostess have not taken any cut in pay and have in fact increased THEIR
pay since the first BK? Try to remember that IBT brought Ripplewood in to 'save us'. And what happened? So stop being stupid
if you can. Rayburn will get his 1113 granted and the IBT will gutlessly claimed 'we fought the good fight but lost in the end' when in
fact, it was a foregone conclusion.
to concede the fact that our locals that represent Hostess have not taken any cut in pay and have in fact increased THEIR
pay since the first BK? Try to remember that IBT brought Ripplewood in to 'save us'. And what happened? So stop being stupid
if you can. Rayburn will get his 1113 granted and the IBT will gutlessly claimed 'we fought the good fight but lost in the end' when in
fact, it was a foregone conclusion.
Liberalism has put this nation on life support. Thinking for yourself is antithetical to liberalism. Blind allegiance is the utmost rule in liberalism...............and unionism.
#10
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Posted April 16 2012 - 11:46 PM
-xg22-
Re: your comment of....
"The looting of Hostess brands by its top executives is an object lesson in how CEO pay harms the 99 percent and kills the U.S. economy."
...and taking into context ibc734's remarks, the New York Post had an interesting take on the situation, to wit (and making a pun here!) - the Teamsters seem to want to have their cake and to eat it too. Anyway, the article does provide some interesting background....and indicates just how some of those "top executives" got there, as well as who's done "harm". Quoting the article....
(quote begins)
Teamsters Vice President Ken Hall is pointing the finger of blame at hedge fund Silver Point — one of Hostess’ biggest secured creditors — saying the firm would rather force the bakery to liquidate than restructure in bankruptcy.
“I believe they want to make their money and run — unfortunately, with little regard to the 19,000 workers,” Hall told The Post yesterday in an interview.
That’s rich, considering the unions blocked Silver Point from backing a management-led buyout of Hostess in 2008, when it landed in bankruptcy for the first time. The Teamsters instead threw their weight behind investment firm Ripplewood Holdings, which drove the business into Chapter 11 for a second time in January.
Anyway, the full article can be found at......
http://www.nypost.co...dTr8Ncii87IQUsJ
-scb-
Re: your comment of....
"The looting of Hostess brands by its top executives is an object lesson in how CEO pay harms the 99 percent and kills the U.S. economy."
...and taking into context ibc734's remarks, the New York Post had an interesting take on the situation, to wit (and making a pun here!) - the Teamsters seem to want to have their cake and to eat it too. Anyway, the article does provide some interesting background....and indicates just how some of those "top executives" got there, as well as who's done "harm". Quoting the article....
(quote begins)
Teamsters Vice President Ken Hall is pointing the finger of blame at hedge fund Silver Point — one of Hostess’ biggest secured creditors — saying the firm would rather force the bakery to liquidate than restructure in bankruptcy.
“I believe they want to make their money and run — unfortunately, with little regard to the 19,000 workers,” Hall told The Post yesterday in an interview.
That’s rich, considering the unions blocked Silver Point from backing a management-led buyout of Hostess in 2008, when it landed in bankruptcy for the first time. The Teamsters instead threw their weight behind investment firm Ripplewood Holdings, which drove the business into Chapter 11 for a second time in January.
(quote ends)
Kinda' reminiscent of the situation in car haul a short time back, isn't it?
Anyway, the full article can be found at......
http://www.nypost.co...dTr8Ncii87IQUsJ
-scb-
#11
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Posted April 23 2012 - 03:48 AM
And in the end, you have two choices. Deal with Rayburn or leave. His offer is not unreasonable as you can see in the attached files.
Here is a link to his interview on FOX Business Channel
Will a Strike Take Hostess Down? | Video | Fox Business
And here's what slob Hall said about Rayburn......................
Teamsters Remain Committed To Reaching Fair Agreement With Hostess Execs To Save Company, Jobs
"However, while key developments were occurring in bankruptcy court yesterday, Hostess CEO Greg Rayburn was engaged in a FOX News media blitz in an attempt to malign Hostess workers and their promised pensions, blaming them for the company’s demise."
Really? I wonder if slob Hall gets it. Rayburn will not put good money into bad pensions. I don't hear Rayburn maligning the workers. Our pension was screwed over my our fund manager three years ago. He stayed aggressive while the DOW was tanking. No one would fund mismanaged funds. Rayburn said it like it is. I need to cut the MEPP funding by 75% or I cannot get new cash. Period. Hall is coming off as an intransigent fool in this.
Here is a link to his interview on FOX Business Channel
Will a Strike Take Hostess Down? | Video | Fox Business
And here's what slob Hall said about Rayburn......................
Teamsters Remain Committed To Reaching Fair Agreement With Hostess Execs To Save Company, Jobs
"However, while key developments were occurring in bankruptcy court yesterday, Hostess CEO Greg Rayburn was engaged in a FOX News media blitz in an attempt to malign Hostess workers and their promised pensions, blaming them for the company’s demise."
Really? I wonder if slob Hall gets it. Rayburn will not put good money into bad pensions. I don't hear Rayburn maligning the workers. Our pension was screwed over my our fund manager three years ago. He stayed aggressive while the DOW was tanking. No one would fund mismanaged funds. Rayburn said it like it is. I need to cut the MEPP funding by 75% or I cannot get new cash. Period. Hall is coming off as an intransigent fool in this.
Attached Files
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1204211249_hbdoc1.doc 46.05K
6 downloads
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1204211252_hbdoc2.doc 10.3K
4 downloads
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1204211254_hbdoc3.doc 10.63K
3 downloads
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1204211256_hbdoc4.doc 14.54K
3 downloads
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1204211258_hbdoc5.doc 17.92K
2 downloads
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1204211259_hbdoc.doc 10.48K
2 downloads
Liberalism has put this nation on life support. Thinking for yourself is antithetical to liberalism. Blind allegiance is the utmost rule in liberalism...............and unionism.
#12
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Posted April 23 2012 - 03:52 AM
Also, I wonder why Hall never told us this................
Bankruptcy judge gives Hostess more time
................
Bankruptcy judge gives Hostess more time
................
Hostess also said it needed time to complete a search for an investor to finance its emergence from Chapter 11.
Some 14 parties have executed confidentiality agreements,and interested investors submitted a first round of proposals on Feb. 27.
Hostess expects a second round during the week of May 7.
Read more: Bankruptcy judge gives Hostess more time - The Deal Pipeline(SAMPLE CONTENT: NEED AN ID?) http://www.thedeal.c...p#ixzz1srqOcwsj
Really? Then tell the members this HALL!! Tell then that there has been interest since Feb 27 instead of this 'we're gonna shut it down' ****.
Liberalism has put this nation on life support. Thinking for yourself is antithetical to liberalism. Blind allegiance is the utmost rule in liberalism...............and unionism.
#13
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Posted May 09 2012 - 09:23 PM
ole angry andy needs to have his diaper changed it is really sagging with all his pissing and crapping in those depends
