|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
madoka
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
|
 Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 11:40 am Post subject: The end of Twinkies?!?!?!?! NOOOO! |
 |
|
Three days of labor strikes have prompted Hostess Brands Inc. to close three plants and mull a possible liquidation of the beleaguered baking company.
Hostess, which has been dueling with various labor groups for the past 10 months as it attempts to claw its way out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, is seeing picket lines at about two-thirds of its plants, according to Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn.
The strikes were organized by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union, whose 5,680 Hostess workers account for about 30% of the company's total work force.
In September, the union rejected a Hostess proposal that called for deep labor concessions, but a judge later allowed the baking company to force the union to adopt the new collective-bargaining agreement.
The union said on Friday that it was kicking off the strike to protest the "horrendous contract" that Hostess imposed, which features wage cuts and limits workers' participation in pension plans.
Mr. Rayburn said Monday afternoon that Hostess would be shutting down plants in Seattle, St. Louis and Cincinnati as a result of the work stoppage. The plants produce everything from cakes to Nature's Pride and Wonder breads, and they employ 627 workers, all of whom will lose their jobs. "We don't have the manpower to maintain them during the strike," he said.
He also said that the company didn't have much more wiggle room in terms of shutting down additional plants and that the next step would probably be a complete shutdown.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hostess-shuts-3-plants-035700490.html
I haven't eaten a Twinkie in years, but now I'm thinking of stocking up and testing out the upper limits of the shelf life of Twinkies.
McClane: Oh, God...
Powell: Roy? Roy, you all right?
McClane: Just trying to fire down a 1,000 year old Twinkie. What do they put in these things, anyway?
Powell: Sugar, enriched flour, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, polysorbate 60, and yellow dye number five. Just everything a growing boy needs. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 12:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Last time I bothered to read the ingredients list on a Twinkies label, I think I saw lard or animal fat listed as a possible ingredient. (Possible because some products have more than one manufacturing recipe and it's just cheaper for the company to have the same label for all versions of that product.) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
madoka
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
newb
Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Location: Korea
|
| Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Obama was meeting with union leader(s) a few days ago. I guess the gov't is encouraging these strikes to better the economy. Way to go! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jyang486
Joined: 25 Nov 2011
|
| Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Please tell me these are joke auctions... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
madoka
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
|
| Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 5:53 pm Post subject: Re: The end of Twinkies?!?!?!?! NOOOO! |
|
|
| madoka wrote: |
| He also said that the company didn't have much more wiggle room in terms of shutting down additional plants and that the next step would probably be a complete shutdown. |
Even the Teamsters agreed. Too bad the baker's union decided to strike for fear that other bakeries would also demand such concessions.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/16/hostess-liquidation-teamsters-bakers-union_n_2145851.html
Ken Hall, the Teamsters secretary-treasurer, said his union didn't doubt Hostess' claims after seeing its books.
"I think it's obvious there was no bluff," said Hall. "Our financial advisers had looked at their books, they had total access. We pushed them in negotiations to where we thought it was the absolute limit, that we would get the most for our members and [still] have a pathway back to prosperity for the company. The bakers' union disagreed with that."
"Frankly, I feel sick about what's going on here," Hall added. "It's a tragic day for 18,000 workers." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dodge7
Joined: 21 Oct 2011
|
| Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Unions are a joke. Instead of taking a cut in pay and benefits the workers are going to lose 100% of their pay and benefits. Thanks unions! You slime. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
madoka
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 1:37 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Jyang486 wrote: |
Please tell me these are joke auctions... |
From the Associated Press:
Twinkies are being sold on the Internet like exquisite delicacies.
Hours after Twinkie-maker Hostess announced its plans to close its doors forever, people flocked to stores to fill their shopping baskets with boxes of the cream-filled sponge cakes and their sibling snacks � Ding Dongs, Ho Hos and Zingers.
Late Friday and Saturday, the opportunists took to eBay and Craigslist. They began marketing their hoard to whimsical collectors and junk-food lovers for hundreds � and in some cases � thousands of dollars. That's a fat profit margin, when you consider the retail price for a box of 10 Twinkies is roughly $5.
Greg Edmonds of Sherman, Texas is among those who believe Twinkies are worth more now that Hostess Brands Inc. has closed its bakeries. He lost his job as a sales representative eight months ago, so he is hoping to make some money feeding the appetites of Twinkie fans and connoisseurs
After spending a couple hours driving around to stores Friday, Edmonds wound up with 16 boxes of Twinkies and Ding Dongs. He started selling them Saturday on eBay, advertising three boxes for a hefty price of $300.
"I could really use the extra money since I'm unemployed," Edmonds, 50, said. "I figure I better sell them pretty quickly because I am not sure how long this novelty is going to last."
Contrary to popular belief, Twinkies don't last forever. Most bought in stores Friday carry an expiration date of early December,
If buyers don't bite, Edmonds isn't sure what he will do with his supply. He doesn't even like them. "I do like to have a Ding Dong, every once in a while though," he said.
John Stansel of Tampa, Fla. blanches at the thought of eating a Twinkie. He's a self-described health nut.
Yet he, too, rummaged shelves late Friday at a neighborhood Walgreens and then again early Saturday at Target and a grocery store. He spent about $100 for 20 boxes of Twinkies and Ding Dongs. His goal: sell them for about $1,000 and put the money to good use.
"Maybe I will hire a personal trainer for myself or go do some shopping at Whole Foods or donate the money to a charity to fight diabetes," Stansel, 40, said. "No matter what, I figure I am getting sugar off the streets." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 6:04 am Post subject: |
|
|
| There is still hope yet. The company has just recently resumed talks with the labor union it has been having trouble with after previously saying it was going to sell off its assets. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
actionjackson
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Location: Any place I'm at
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 6:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Dodge7 wrote: |
| Unions are a joke. Instead of taking a cut in pay and benefits the workers are going to lose 100% of their pay and benefits. Thanks unions! You slime. |
How much are workers supposed to put up with before they finally say, this is it, I won't give any more?
| Quote: |
When I received my first paycheck from then Interstate Bakeries in 1999 it had a memo stapled to it. The memo announced that Wonder had just had the most productive quarter in baking history. It stated that the health of the company and brand had never been better. The break room was buzzing with excitement because our contract was soon to be up for renegotiation and this would surely mean smooth sailing. A few weeks later we got the 'oops' letter. Turns out it was all an 'accounting' error and the company was failing miserably.
Conveniently though, CEO Charles Sullivan and the board managed to sell their stock before word got out about the bad news. No jail time of course. In fact, Sullivan was brought back as a consultant after his resignation. Enron happened a few years later and at the bakery we were amazed how much attention they got compared to us.
In July of 2011 we received a letter from the company. It said that the $3+ per hour that we as a Union contribute to the pension was going to be 'borrowed' by the company until they could be profitable again. Then they would pay it all back. The Union was notified of this the same time and method as the individual members. No contact from the company to the Union on a national level.
This money will never be paid back. The company filed for bankruptcy and the judge ruled that the $3+ per hour was a debt the company couldn't repay. The Union continued to work despite this theft of our self-funded pension contributions for over a year. I consider this money stolen. No other word in the English language describes what they have done to this money.
The company of course used it's 'oops' letter to justify asking for concessions from the Union. We gave nothing and gained nothing that year after a 45 minute strike. The status quo continued and I proudly joined the middle class for the first time in my life. I made $14 an hour and had insurance. I even went on vacations for the first time. I had great pride in my job, and the products. We bought a new car for the first and only time in my life. In 2003 I transferred to the Lenexa, KS bakery.
What was this last/best/final offer? You'd never know by watching the main stream media tell the story. So here you go...
1) 8% hourly pay cut in year 1 with additional cuts totaling 27% over 5 years. Currently, I make $16.12 an hour at TOP rate of pay in the bakery. I would drop to $11.26 in 5 years.
2) They get to keep our $3+ an hour forever.
3) Doubling of weekly insurance premium.
4) Lowering of overall quality of insurance plan.
5) TOTAL withdrawal from ALL pensions. If you don't have it now then you never will.
Remember how I said I made $48,000 in 2005 and $34,000 last year? I would make $25,000 in 5 years if I took their offer.
It will be hard to replace the job I had, but it will be easy to replace the job they were trying to give me.
That $3+ per hour they steal totaled $50 million last year that they never paid us. They sold $2.5 BILLION in product last year. If they can't make this profitable without stealing my money then good riddance. |
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/18/1162786/-Inside-the-Hostess-Bankery |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:48 am Post subject: |
|
|
I've had Twinkies once...Yuck.
It's not as if we're talking about Vachon cakes, anyways. Now those are what junk food are supposed to taste like. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tatertot
Joined: 21 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
| actionjackson wrote: |
| Dodge7 wrote: |
| Unions are a joke. Instead of taking a cut in pay and benefits the workers are going to lose 100% of their pay and benefits. Thanks unions! You slime. |
How much are workers supposed to put up with before they finally say, this is it, I won't give any more?
| Quote: |
When I received my first paycheck from then Interstate Bakeries in 1999 it had a memo stapled to it. The memo announced that Wonder had just had the most productive quarter in baking history. It stated that the health of the company and brand had never been better. The break room was buzzing with excitement because our contract was soon to be up for renegotiation and this would surely mean smooth sailing. A few weeks later we got the 'oops' letter. Turns out it was all an 'accounting' error and the company was failing miserably.
Conveniently though, CEO Charles Sullivan and the board managed to sell their stock before word got out about the bad news. No jail time of course. In fact, Sullivan was brought back as a consultant after his resignation. Enron happened a few years later and at the bakery we were amazed how much attention they got compared to us.
In July of 2011 we received a letter from the company. It said that the $3+ per hour that we as a Union contribute to the pension was going to be 'borrowed' by the company until they could be profitable again. Then they would pay it all back. The Union was notified of this the same time and method as the individual members. No contact from the company to the Union on a national level.
This money will never be paid back. The company filed for bankruptcy and the judge ruled that the $3+ per hour was a debt the company couldn't repay. The Union continued to work despite this theft of our self-funded pension contributions for over a year. I consider this money stolen. No other word in the English language describes what they have done to this money.
The company of course used it's 'oops' letter to justify asking for concessions from the Union. We gave nothing and gained nothing that year after a 45 minute strike. The status quo continued and I proudly joined the middle class for the first time in my life. I made $14 an hour and had insurance. I even went on vacations for the first time. I had great pride in my job, and the products. We bought a new car for the first and only time in my life. In 2003 I transferred to the Lenexa, KS bakery.
What was this last/best/final offer? You'd never know by watching the main stream media tell the story. So here you go...
1) 8% hourly pay cut in year 1 with additional cuts totaling 27% over 5 years. Currently, I make $16.12 an hour at TOP rate of pay in the bakery. I would drop to $11.26 in 5 years.
2) They get to keep our $3+ an hour forever.
3) Doubling of weekly insurance premium.
4) Lowering of overall quality of insurance plan.
5) TOTAL withdrawal from ALL pensions. If you don't have it now then you never will.
Remember how I said I made $48,000 in 2005 and $34,000 last year? I would make $25,000 in 5 years if I took their offer.
It will be hard to replace the job I had, but it will be easy to replace the job they were trying to give me.
That $3+ per hour they steal totaled $50 million last year that they never paid us. They sold $2.5 BILLION in product last year. If they can't make this profitable without stealing my money then good riddance. |
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/18/1162786/-Inside-the-Hostess-Bankery |
You don't think that, maybe, just maybe, $11/hour is the right wage for somebody working on a hostess assembly line? If anything, that seems a bit high to me. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 1:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
They're going to have to find someplace else to make $11.00 making snacks, because negotiations failed and the company is selling everything. Personally I think they screwed themselves big time. Especially in this economy. "No big deal I'll just find another place to work at, after all I'm experienced at making Hostess snacks. That has to count for something right"  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
actionjackson
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Location: Any place I'm at
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| tatertot wrote: |
| actionjackson wrote: |
| Dodge7 wrote: |
| Unions are a joke. Instead of taking a cut in pay and benefits the workers are going to lose 100% of their pay and benefits. Thanks unions! You slime. |
How much are workers supposed to put up with before they finally say, this is it, I won't give any more?
| Quote: |
When I received my first paycheck from then Interstate Bakeries in 1999 it had a memo stapled to it. The memo announced that Wonder had just had the most productive quarter in baking history. It stated that the health of the company and brand had never been better. The break room was buzzing with excitement because our contract was soon to be up for renegotiation and this would surely mean smooth sailing. A few weeks later we got the 'oops' letter. Turns out it was all an 'accounting' error and the company was failing miserably.
Conveniently though, CEO Charles Sullivan and the board managed to sell their stock before word got out about the bad news. No jail time of course. In fact, Sullivan was brought back as a consultant after his resignation. Enron happened a few years later and at the bakery we were amazed how much attention they got compared to us.
In July of 2011 we received a letter from the company. It said that the $3+ per hour that we as a Union contribute to the pension was going to be 'borrowed' by the company until they could be profitable again. Then they would pay it all back. The Union was notified of this the same time and method as the individual members. No contact from the company to the Union on a national level.
This money will never be paid back. The company filed for bankruptcy and the judge ruled that the $3+ per hour was a debt the company couldn't repay. The Union continued to work despite this theft of our self-funded pension contributions for over a year. I consider this money stolen. No other word in the English language describes what they have done to this money.
The company of course used it's 'oops' letter to justify asking for concessions from the Union. We gave nothing and gained nothing that year after a 45 minute strike. The status quo continued and I proudly joined the middle class for the first time in my life. I made $14 an hour and had insurance. I even went on vacations for the first time. I had great pride in my job, and the products. We bought a new car for the first and only time in my life. In 2003 I transferred to the Lenexa, KS bakery.
What was this last/best/final offer? You'd never know by watching the main stream media tell the story. So here you go...
1) 8% hourly pay cut in year 1 with additional cuts totaling 27% over 5 years. Currently, I make $16.12 an hour at TOP rate of pay in the bakery. I would drop to $11.26 in 5 years.
2) They get to keep our $3+ an hour forever.
3) Doubling of weekly insurance premium.
4) Lowering of overall quality of insurance plan.
5) TOTAL withdrawal from ALL pensions. If you don't have it now then you never will.
Remember how I said I made $48,000 in 2005 and $34,000 last year? I would make $25,000 in 5 years if I took their offer.
It will be hard to replace the job I had, but it will be easy to replace the job they were trying to give me.
That $3+ per hour they steal totaled $50 million last year that they never paid us. They sold $2.5 BILLION in product last year. If they can't make this profitable without stealing my money then good riddance. |
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/18/1162786/-Inside-the-Hostess-Bankery |
You don't think that, maybe, just maybe, $11/hour is the right wage for somebody working on a hostess assembly line? If anything, that seems a bit high to me. |
Actually at $11/hour that would put him on par with what the average baker makes per year, which is about $22,000. At the $11.26 he said he'd be making, that would put him around $23,500 for the year. Now, he's at the top of the pay scale, so I'm sure there are a lot of other people who would've been making less than that. Perhaps pride got the better of them, and to keep reducing their pay was seen as a slap in the face, I don't know. I do know that for me personally, I would rather have some sort of income, than no income at all. However, I think there is entirely too much blame being placed on the unions, a company has workers and they have managers. Here you have a company that brings in $2.5 billion annually, filed for bankruptcy in '04 and '11, and has had 6 CEO's in the last 10 years. This company had problems long before this latest incident. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Porksta
Joined: 05 May 2011
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 7:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I remember in New York a few years ago, lightbulb assembly workers were thinking of striking. They made about $16 an hour. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
