Hostess CEO: How Unions Killed The Twinkie

Hostess Has No Choice But to Liquidate, CEO Says

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Greg Rayburn, Hostess Brands CEO, talks about plans by the bankrupt maker of Wonder bread and Twinkies to fire more than 18,000 workers and liquidate after a strike crippled operations.

CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises.  One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256.

Get the full scoop on the Hostess fight between unions and hedge funds here...

Comments

[DailyBail]

Caught in a fight between labor and hedge funds, the baker may finally have reached its expiration date.

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/26/hostess-twinkies-bankrupt/

Best link I've seen.

[Harry Johson]

Of course it is labors fault. It couldn't possibly be the hedge funds that are the problem could it? After all it is the hedge funds that produce products day after day. The hedge funds couldn't possibly be money sucking parasites that have latched on to our economy draining it of all vitality. After all it is big financiers that come up with brilliant ideas and innovations that make everyone's lives better not engineers, scientists, bakers, machinists, chemists, etc. We owe everything we have and are to the big hedge fund operators without which we could not exist. And upper management at Hostess was earning every penny of their 6 and 7 figure salaries. It is obviously so because of the huge profits that the company was making. So naturally we need to continue to cut every workers salary till they are making nothing.

[JosephConrad]

That this nation has become totally corrupt is most readily evidenced in the willingness of TENS OF MILLIONS OF WHITE ETHNIC AMERICANS to WILLFULLY FORGET the role of UNIONS in helping THEM, THEIR PARENTS & GRAND PARENTS to accumulate WEALTH through STEALING IT from NON-WHITES and WORKERS!

This is a case that calls for the SBA to step up to the plate TO FIND & THEN FINANCE A BUYER TO SAVE 18,000 JOBS and keep that number from flodding into UNEMPLOYMENT LINES! How RACISTR, ARROGANT, SHORT-SIGHTED & GREEDY can Rayburn be to BELLOW\ phony 'anti-union' RHETORIC when HIS TEAM'S MISMANAGEMENT CAUSED THE PROBLEM!

I've woerked with and know the company well for 15yrs. Rayburn LOOTED IT REGULARLY FOR POCKET MONEY & blamed worker inefficency! HE HAD NO VISION ONLY A LUST FOR CASH!

[Backgammon]

Frankly, if Obama were half the President he thinks he is, he would be on the phone all night and all day tomorrow finding buyers to keep 18,500 jobs. When unemployment is 8% and you have just allowed 2 million illegal's, jobs, you should care more than to get on a plane and zoom off to Asia. As ole Joe would say, "It's a big Fuckin Deal".

Obama really is an empty chair!



Romney would never have let this happen! He knows people, he knows the equity business, he knows how to make money.



(Do you have any idea how many times I am going to say that?)

[SKINFLINT]

So here we have an iconic American bakery that at one time HAD THE LARGEST SHARE OF BREAD in the US. Not only that there were Twinkies located front and center at every counter at every 7-11 on this side of the planet. There was a time when Wonder Bread was THE BREAD. Stores across the nation were stocked top to bottom with Wonder Bread. The nations children at the time were raised on this stuff. And they fucked it up. Whether by accident or on purpose, they fucked it up plain and simple. Blame it on the guys on the line, but better check first up top because that is where you will find the smelly shit.

[Texas Dar]

My Dad slod Hostess for 35 years. Glad he is not here today to see what happened to his Co. I would like to know the truth. Did the Co. cut only the workers pay, or was it across the board.

Some how I bet it was the union that told the workers to call their Bluff. They will NEAVER" shut down a big brand name as Hostess. Hang Tought people, we got em by the balls......Now the union has 18,000 workers by the balls.

If the cuts were across the board then this is just another Co. that the unions shut down from Greed......I was union once, till they took so much that the Co. shut its doors. The unions took every penny and forced the shut down. I lost my job........

Unions and the Dems think all profit belongs to them, and this country is almost finished today..!

[SKINFLINT]

Unions. It's a bad word. Greedy low life union workers with high pay with little incentive to work hard because the rules won't allow them. It's a bad word until you consider industry and their trade groups. The automotive guys flew to Washington to pander to Congress for a bailout. The banks have their own union that caters to their need called the Federal Reserve. The Petroleum companies have their own union to cater to their needs. The low guy gets a uniion and he is considered to be somehow a miserable cretin. Let us ponder the man Robert Nardelli. Here is a man who ran at least two iconic American companies into the shitter. He collected his for life golden parachutes to the tune of tens of millions of dollars and basically told the guy on the floor that he was not worth his money. Really. He can make decisions that negatively effect his company, cost thousands their jobs and walks away with tons of money cause he aint got any skin in the game. How abut they claw back his money for lack of performance, strip his holdings and hold him accountable. Christ almighty, I just get sick of hearing about this shit. Come on already.

[Canuck]

I searched and searched for a wage scale for Hostess employees, finally found one in comments on a blog. According to the poster, ~ $14/hr was what they earned. Hardly high pay.

[john]

Canuck. I was in the IBEW (2 different locals), and I have never seen so much corruption or so many junkies. Yes, they have random testing but it seems they knew who to test (us older guys who are clean and the apprentices) if you get my drift. If you look at NYC I can tell you that many are still without power because of union horse shit there (been there done that back in 06).

I can speak of green payola too but I digress.

Here is a bridge that was featured on the news recently...

http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/boston-south/Hanover-bridge-taking-years-to-build/-/9848842/16773996/-/l5rmgyz/-/index.html

Milk the jobs for all they are worth and all those cadillac insurance plans. Take a moment to watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMo1iBd43y4

I know there are locals that are really good but...

[DailyBail]

CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) and at least nine other top executives of the company received massive pay raises. One such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000 and another received one taking his salary from $375,000 to $656,256.

http://www.nationofchange.org/hostess-blames-union-bankruptcy-after-tripling-ceo-s-pay-1353255416

[S. Gompers]

Twinkies will be back after the hedge fund sells the trademarked names and recipes and the golden parachutes are paid.

[DailyBail]

The Twinkie: Will it return as a Mexican expat?

http://news.yahoo.com/twinkie-return-mexican-expat-180426682.html

Hostess Brands is liquidating its business after 82 years, which means some of the most iconic brands of the century may be up for auction. Will Twinkies become a foreign import?

[SKINFLINT]

CEO of Hostess was awarded a 300 percent raise I guess it the last chance for a cram filled center.