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The Spectacle Blog
If you have ever thought about making a deep-fried Twinkie (quite delicious with whipped cream, ice cream, and chocolate sauce, I can testify), you’d better go stock up on the Twinkies right now, if you can even still find them. And what’s the downside? After all, are they not supposed to be indestructible, with the urban rumor of an indefinite shelf life?
The union which represents bakers who work at Hostess seem to have played a very aggressive, very stupid game of chicken, not agreeing to a modified contract which the company’s other unions had agreed to.
The end result is that the roughly 3000 bakers union members at Hostess have forced the company into liquidation, costing about 18,500 people their jobs. To be sure, the damage was caused more by the union leaders than by the union members, with the union leaders pressuring members to vote against the contract and only allowing a public voice vote, not a secret ballot. Just another example, on a micro scale, of people getting the government (or at least the representation) they deserve.
The union is arguing that the company’s financial structure (in which there was a lot of leverage) is the cause, and that the workers had given up enough when the company came out of bankruptcy the last time. Showing you how insane union leaders are, a spokeswoman said on CNBC “we should be applauding these workers for standing up for their right to stay in the middle class.”
There are lots of examples of despicable, self-destructive labor unions, but this one (if you will pardon the pun) takes the cake.
Perhaps they thought they were the UAW and that Obama would bail them out. But with Michelle Obama’s hatred for anything unhealthy, the right response would probably be “fat chance.”
I’m going to pick up my kids at school now and see if there are any Twinkies or Ding Dongs left in the local supermarket.
Hostess will sell the brands, so you will probably see these products again in coming months or years, but that’s cold comfort for the 18,500 Hostess employees who have lost their jobs today thanks to the greedy obstinacy of the bakers union.
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More Blog Posts by Ross Kaminsky
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/11/16/bakers-union-burns-hostess
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Maxwell| 11.16.12 @ 5:00PM
Don't worry, Continental Bakeries did not build that, Barry did!
On a better note, I hope someone buys the name & moves the machinery to a right to work state. This Yankee will nominate Texas or one of the great Southern states.
ChesterBelloc| 11.16.12 @ 5:09PM
Moochelle had Homeland security stockpile 1 yr supply of Twinkies and Hostess cupcakes at Camp David.
Bob Grant| 11.16.12 @ 5:11PM
There's a special place in hell for union "leaders"...
Lullabys Legends and Lies| 11.16.12 @ 6:30PM
Well there at least one Union now, that won't be sending their Worker's dues to the Democrats in 2014!! I'm glad I got over my Twinkie addiction a few years back, otherwise, this would be a very bad day for me, a very bad day indeed!!
C Bowen | 11.16.12 @ 6:32PM
As far as I can tell, there was no hope for this company as structured. The unions had a fair point that they were being charged pension deductions, but no money was being put in the pensions--that is, the pension deduction became part of the business plan as far as cash flow.
One should rather celebrate that the company was not bailed out like the Fat Cats on Wall Street or Detroit were, and that the company might yet reform. Not that anybody should be eating that crap filled with government subsidized ingredients.
Occam's Tool| 11.16.12 @ 6:55PM
There are generic versions of Twinkies available, folks.
RJ| 11.17.12 @ 2:17AM
I hope there are also generic versions of Hostess' Cupcakes, too. Still generics are often just not the same as the original. I hope we never lose Nabisco and its Oreo cookies.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 11.16.12 @ 7:54PM
There is probably a lot more to this story, but true to form corporate WHORES are quick to blame the union and they always blame the union first.
Trinacria| 11.16.12 @ 8:48PM
If the shoe fits...
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 11.16.12 @ 9:05PM
Did it ever occur to you that whatever Wall Street firm owns Hostess might have wanted to get rid of Hostess they just didn't want to look like the bad guys so they waited for a labor dispute to declare bankruptcy and shut its doors.
Ross Kaminsky| 11.17.12 @ 11:09AM
an "evil" Wall Street firm put something like $30MM into the firm recently and lost every penny.
just how could this have been a good outcome for anyone?
Maxwell| 11.19.12 @ 8:04AM
Ross, correct me if I am wrong but Tim Collins, the CEO of Ripplewood Holdings, one of the investment firms behind the Hostess management, donated $200K to Obama's Priorities USA SuperPAC and who's also made significant contributions to various Democrat congressional campaigns and PAC.
The other major investor was GE Capital, another firm who's management been quite supportive of the President and Democrat policies for the most part.
So, it seems that blaming "Wall Street, big business investors" is really blaming fat cat Democrat contributors. I wonder if the union leaders know this or conveniently forget it while blaming Republicans? I wonder if the union rank and file know that most Wall Streeters are big time Democrat contributors?
Trinacria| 11.17.12 @ 11:52AM
Did it ever occur to you to take 5 minutes to do some cursory research and learn just a tad about the subject upon which you've chosen to pontificate?
Really, sport, I'm embarrassed for you.
Occam's Tool| 11.17.12 @ 3:59PM
Dmitry voted for Liberal Democrats in California on a straight ticket, after he voted a write in for Ron Paul. His economic and political judgment is questionable. He's no Conservative or Libertarian. He is an antisemitic peasant, however.
Occam's Tool| 11.17.12 @ 4:01PM
Well, don't worry, Dmitry, after you lose your job you can always pimp out your daughter to Islamic child rapists for money. Since you support them so much.
Dimitry_Aleksandrovich| 11.19.12 @ 11:15PM
Don't ever mention my children again Occam. That's off limits even to a scumbag like you.
size38pants| 11.16.12 @ 8:34PM
Anyone remember those Hostess banana flavoured cake snacks. A sort of Twinkie based cake folded around the banana creme filling. Can't remember the name of them but they were delish.
Oldefarte| 11.16.12 @ 9:56PM
This made my day! 18000 labor unionist DING-DONGS out of work. Betcha they all voted for their boy's re-election, because no doubt Richard Trumpka or some other goon told then they had to [to save their jobs]. America is STUPID!!!!!!!!
Occam's Tool| 11.17.12 @ 3:59PM
It's good to see Union scum out of a job.
Warrior| 11.17.12 @ 8:05PM
The way it becomes positive if the rank and file realize that their leadership has again lined them with milk bone underwear and sent them to the dogs (stolen from Cheers). Unfortunately, the union card holding lemmings again are being told it was evil business and they swallow the kool aid without a second thought.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.17.12 @ 7:16AM
You freaking union people... you have no idea how to run a Hostess bakery company. All you did was weaken a country today, Unions. That's all you did. You put Hostess Bakery out of business. Sweet dreams, Union.
Pecos Pete| 11.17.12 @ 7:32AM
There will be more bankruptcies driven by union demands. There will be more bankruptcies driven by government regulations. There will be reductions in hours worked a week (to under 30 hours) and a refusal to employ more than 49 people ... as a result of ObamaCare ... and the unions will blame the owners. Forward!
Bob K| 11.18.12 @ 9:58AM
Those bankruptcies will also come about from the demands of Public Unions. The Private Union forces pale when compared to them.
Many businesses in the private sector share in the profits from the amenities these unions negotiate for their membership; such as the varieties of Insurance for Health Care that they receive from the Taxpayers. It will be difficult to weaken these Unions because of this.
This is a well disguised form of Crony Capitalism.
JimH| 11.17.12 @ 7:50AM
'There's More to Life Than a Hostess Twinkie' - Jean Sheperd
Maxwell| 11.17.12 @ 9:23AM
I met Shep many times & remember his ham radio days as K2ORS (I think that was his call). I cannot tell you how many 9 volt batteries I burned up listening to him on WOR radio from 11:15 to mid night. Good comeback JimH!
JimH| 11.18.12 @ 7:45AM
I never met him. I was too young to attend his live shows. Growing up in Queens, I also used many a battery listening to him at night as well and sometimes Barry Farber as well. Excelsior.
JeffPerren | 11.17.12 @ 2:27PM
"Michelle Obama's hatred for anything unhealthy," If this were accurate, she would've divorced Barack years ago. There's nothing more unhealthy than that thug's character - which she shares.
Rhoetus| 11.18.12 @ 8:33PM
Invest in Tasty Cakes, ;-)