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Business

‘Real News:’ What Brought the Death of the Twinkie, Management, Unions or the Consumer?

Nov. 16, 2012 7:22pm Christopher Santarelli

Hostess announced Friday that they would be asking a court to allow them to liquidate their company, shuttering business doors after 82 years and laying off 18,500 employees. The company, having already gone through a bankruptcy in January, said it could not sustain a nationwide strike by its bakers union. Management told union representatives that if they couldn’t bend on wages and benefits by Thursday, they would shut down the company. Union representatives called management’s requests “outrageous,” and said they would not take “draconian wage and benefit cuts on top of the significant concessions they made in 2004 and give up their pension so that the Wall Street vulture capitalists in control of this company can walk away with millions of dollars.”

The union did not bend and now the workers are out of jobs entirely.

Business Insider reports that Hostess, maker of the Twinkie and Ding Dong, is now controlled by a group of investment firms that will sell its assets to the highest bidder. Possible buyers could pick up Hostess’s more popular products at auction and package them at other companies. Beyond labor costs, CSM notes that increased competition in the snack space and Americans being increasingly conscious about healthy eating also could be attributed to Hostess’s fall.

The Hostess announcement was analyzed by the panel on “Real News” Friday, building out to examine how this news of an iconic company falling against private labor union demands compares to the debate surrounding public sector unions that we have seen over the last year.

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Comments (186)

Shenandoahvalleyminuteman
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:01pm
The unions are hard learners. What a bunch of demanding idiots. Making demands that a company cannot pay for is no way to keep your job. Better luck next time. By the way, union idiots, start your own bakery and try to sell your own snacks. Then you can find out how hard running a business is. You will find out that money does not grow on trees!!!

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- Gold Coin & Economic News
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:26pm
  Unions are THUGS! They knew Hostess was in bankruptcy and yet they did not want to take a cut in pay. They were so greedy they refused to take a cut in pay and now they are all out of a job. This is where unions will take us and THIS is what socialists want:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdZiUESrGQQ
  
  Report this comment
- J.C. McGlynn
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:51pm
  Isn’t that what happened to GM? They’re still hurting.
  
  Report this comment
- Ditto Head
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:56pm
  It definitely wasn’t the consumer. Everybody loves Hostess cakes. Even poor people on foodstamps buy twinkies (I know, I’ve seen them). Management? They’re partially to blame for not getting out from under the Union a long time ago. They had to have seen this coming. Ultimately it was the Unions’ fault for malrepresenting their members. The union mentality is @$$backwards. In their bizzarro world, the employees call the shots, they are paid more than their efforts are worth, and there is no incentive to be more productive and/or efficient. In the real world, the people spending the money are the ones who call the shots and people are paid based on what they produce. Welcome to reality, former Hostess employees. I guaran-freaking- tee you that whoever buys out Hostess will not be bringing the Unions on board.
  
  Report this comment
- dealer@678
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 10:11pm
  I turned it off when Michelle Fields was’nt there
  
  Report this comment
- Catherine A.
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 10:42pm
  Is The Blaze giving us both sides of the story? “But while headlines have been quick to blame unions for the downfall of the company there’s actually more to the story: While the company was filing for bankruptcy, for the second time, earlier this year, it actually tripled its CEO’s pay, and increased other executives’ compensation by as much as 80 percent.”
  http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/16/1203151/why-unions-dont-shoulder-the-blame-for-hostesss-downfall/?mobile=nc
  
  Report this comment
- Marci
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 11:07pm
  I think this is by design—leaders like Trumka are attempting to send a message, that mobs are here to stay and they hold your company’s fate in their hands. So when you see the biggest thug of all with the worst hairpiece ever feigning outrage on TV for a photo op, it’s a dog and pony show. There were a smaller number of holdouts in the Bakers Union that ended up screwing it for all of them. And Trumka can’t be happier, I assure you. This is the man that said card check WILL take place in O’s second term. Union bosses are for themselves, one need only to look at their bloated salaries to see this.
  
  Report this comment
- Quandary
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 12:23am
  Welcome to Obama’s 2nd term
  
  Report this comment
- fair2light
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 3:03am
  I am teamsters union, local 631. Last January we were given a choice strike or take a 9 dollar an hour pay cut. Guess what I still have a job. I dont like it, but I get it, the companies are in the business of a profit, and this economy is in the *******. If these union members don’t want to compromise they get what they deserve, unemployed. I can say that, I have been there. You union members are greedy selfish people. This economy is in the crapper and you want more money and more benifits. Good grief
  
  Report this comment
- kaydeebeau
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 5:48am
  It happened to Peterbilt in Nashville TN several years ago also – after years of union strikes the company shuttered and the union picketers still stood outside for months afterwards – idiots
  
  Report this comment
- SeaCrow
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 11:39am
  Here is how it will really go: Hostess will enter bankruptcy yet again, sell off its highly lucrative assets–Twinkies, Wonder (if it’s) Bread, Ho Hos etc– but somebody else (remember ITT Continental Baking Co?) will produce those multibillion dollar goodies. Former Hostess management will walk away with bucks in the bank. Former Hostess workers go on the obamadole as they ponder the merits of union representation vs. right-to-work laws. The new Twinkie owners and management will still have to deal with the bakers’ and delivery unions, but on less disadvantageous terms.
  
  Report this comment
- lillith70
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 12:00pm
  The bloat at the top CEO mega millions fostered by Reagan because of a flawed refinancial model that said companies owe their stockholders mega bucks helped set the stage.
  
  Michelle Antoinette and her don’t let them eat cake (twinkies or Hostess cakes?) has helped the public loses their taste for the once big treat item. The pop culture making the twinkie the symbol of white flour, white sugar, white death health food campaign doomed it. Last one I treated myself to, the cream inside was too greasy leaving a coating on the mouth. A doughnut is more substantial and filling and less calories?
  
  Twinkies were a good carry along for young tots way back when but mine graduated to ding dongs-my grandkids to the packaged doughnuts. Change in taste.
  
  In all it looks like a time for the workers and the top dogs to rethink the fiscal model of Reagan era and pay the worker more and the CEO less. The flawed premise stated that the CEO big brains needed incentives but the speaker on the video said they are self-motivated and the stockholders do not stick with any one company.
  
  Back to the thinking of Henry Ford if we want to get back to a country faintly resembling the one before Barack Soetoro Hussein Frank Marshall Davis, Barry Obama II took the charge to fundamentally transform America.
  
  He loses nothing as the masses lose jobs because out of chaos and poverty socialism rises. More chaos and poverty, more need and the masses willingly take on the one world benign dictat
  
  Report this comment
- jayshay
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 12:31pm
  You ain’t seen nuttin’ yet. Just wait and see how many more companies do the same thing when Obiecare goes into effect. Just look at the number off layoffs and closings since Obie was reelected.
  
  Report this comment
- smokie
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 12:31pm
  Fair2light,
  You sound like my dad. He was a member of a union, but didn’t like the greed of the younger workers. He grew up in the Depression, and believed in a truly fair wage for labor. He truly loved his job. After a strike, he’d be so glad to return to work, win or lose. He holds the record for working with his company the longest, and taught many younger people their jobs. He understood when the company needed the workers to pitch in during a tough time, because it was his company.
  People today, they work at the most, two years, then leave when they don’t rise from floor sweeper to CEO. there’s a lack of dedication.
  
  Report this comment
- oneshiner
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 4:26pm
  Thank the Lord I learned at a young age, at my very first full time job (just out of school) that I wanted no part of the Union. They pushed and pushed me and I just stood my ground telling them I didn’t like what I’ve read about unions and I didn’t want to be a part of it, nor did I want my hard earned money going to something I didn’t agree with.
  
  WELL, you’d thought I just shot the messenger the way they acted. HA. I’m so glad I read that story about creepy, weird, corrupt organizations who go around hurting people and property all in the UNIONS NAME. All these years, I just thank God for protecting me from this kind of EVIL and believe me from all I’ve seen over the years, they ARE EVIL.
  A reminder of those hateful and evil teachers from Wisconsin and the hateful signs they carried and how mean & hateful they acted when shoving into the State House. You can have those kinds of people, I don’t want them around me ever. Plus, I’d never, never let those kinds of people teach my kids because they’d probably learn early on how to be a dam commie/socialist, like Piven.
  
  Report this comment
- martin696
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 10:56pm
  my neighbor’s half-sister makes $71 every hour on the computer. She has been out of work for seven months but last month her pay check was $20434 just working on the computer for a few hours. Go to this web site and read more, http://ace60.ℂℴm
- grampdad
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 11:53pm
  When in college I worked for the railroad. Unions killed them. Then I worked in the steel industry. American steel inovation was sent overseas and the unions won the right to make steel on the antique machinery. This was in the Seattle area and what do you know the unions forced Boeing to move its offices out of state and begin to offshore the parts. The old Seattle Brass Company had a factory set up to manufacture a local patent and the unions refused to allow the machines to run at designed efficiency and the Moen valves were moved out of state. I have worked union jobs where there were serious pressures to keep production down and have seen the non union (illegal immigrant labor) take over the market. Wake up union brothers we need to be competitive!
  
  Report this comment
- cosette
  Posted on November 18, 2012 at 4:04pm
  Only in the disturbed mind of a liberal union member is nothing per hr. preferable to an 8% pay cut. I hope they are not eligible for unemployment since their vote to continue the strike was tantamount to quitting. I will watch and celebrate every union shop that lays off employees due to the greed of the employees. It’s too bad companies are forced to cut back and in some cases close their doors in the wake of a horrible economy exacerbated by a president hell bent on killing the goose who laid the golden egg.
  
  Report this comment
- cosette
  Posted on November 18, 2012 at 6:36pm
  @ Cathrine H…. So what if they did? They did nothing illegal. They were entirely within the law. What’s your point? How do you feel about ObaMao and his family taking lavish vacations on the taxpayers dime during an terrible economic climate, not to mention the extravagant parties and the trillion dollars ObaMao gave to his contributors in the form of government “grants” to “green” energy companies all for naught. Are you as outraged as you are about the executives of Hostess and their bonuses? The big difference is the Hostess Co. is privately owned. The public treasury is not. To tell you the truth I am enjoying watching these union thugs pay for their blind loyalty to their unions and to the “Gimmiedat” party. I look forward to seeing more of the same.
  
  Report this comment
- UNIX_Techie
  Posted on November 18, 2012 at 9:41pm
  I believe unions had their place at one time but I think it is time for them to lose their stranglehold on the economy. Too often they can build inefficiencies into a job that makes it more costly for the company to compete.
  
  After I got out of the Navy in 1975 one of the jobs I had while going to school was working in a union paper mill. I was 24 or 25 working there and me and the other young guy I worked with one day had this paper that was a lot like poster board. Normally the sheets we pressed were 4′x8′ and 3/16 thick. The previous shift told us that it took a long time to press this paper because of the special handling. The presses were on timers but guys kept missing cycles because of the special handling. So me and this other guy took it as a challenge. We figured out a way to not miss a cycle just by being efficient with our movements. The older guy who worked with us came down during break and just sat and watched us go through this stack of paper.
  
  When we came in the next day the foreman wanted to know how we were able to press so much paper in one shift so we showed him. The other guys were mad at us because we had shown that it was possible to press twice as much paper as the previous shift. They were afraid the foreman was going to expect them to work like that.
  
  Report this comment
ares338
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:53pm
I hope the miserable bassturds enjoy their lack of a job. I hear they’re hiring at Mickey D’s

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- Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:58pm
  Indeed.
  
  Report this comment
- madvlad
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:02pm
  A glorious future awaits them in the food preparation industry!
  
  Report this comment
- TH777
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 10:10pm
  Back in 1991 I worked for a company that was non-union in the office and union in the warehouse. I started in the warehouse making vinyl windows. I worked my way into the office working at the order desk. Then worked my way up to supervisor of the order desk. The people in the warehouse by 2001 were making $14.00 – $16.000 an hour plus they received 80% paid medical benefits. They also had vision, dental and 40lK where the company matched 3%. That was not a bad deal back then. The union told them to fight for “Full” medical and a $3.00 an hour increase within 2 years. Our company refused. The union talked the people into striking, which they did. What a vicious strike it was! The yelling and screaming and cursing that went on at the picket line was horrendous! Most of it was done by the union thugs. Well our company decided they had had enough of the union bull and closed the location down. All my hard work thrown to the dogs. The warehouse people…..ended up working for another local window company making $8.00 an hour. Did the union care?? Of course not.
  
  Report this comment
- 13th Generation American
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 1:14am
  All the while SNOWLEOPARD {GALLERY OF CAT FOLKS} lives off the Government drawing Social Security because she thinks she is entitled to it while never even contributing a thin dime to it. She is so clueless while people who work at Hostess were asking for a wage slightly higher than the poverty level in the United States..
  
  All of you make me sick, get the HEII out of here move to TeabagginTexas and seceed. We won’t care this time.
  
  Sons of the American Revolution
  SAR 1775
  
  Report this comment
- brother_ed
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 11:53am
  @13TH GENERATION AMERICAN
  
  Lineage does not a patriot make…
  
  Report this comment
- oneshiner
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 5:06pm
  TH777. Good Story. Some have to cut off their nose to spite their faces.
  
  Report this comment
- TEXASGRANNY73
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:34am
  @13thG.American OMG, I was born in tea bag Texas. What will I do, what’ll I do, what will I do? Texas tea. That’s oil, and not Olive to you. California is the place to be? Or moving on up to the East side? Or that deluxe apt. in the sky? Nah. Love reading how jealous some folks are. And puh lease, did you know corporate Hostess is located in Irving Texas? Got any job openings for those ill advised union members living here? Maybe in your state? Please. Here’s a question: When a person works for someone else there are how many people involved in hiring? One or two?
  Another question: What name is on the application per each involved (assuming two was the answer in above question): Employee, Employer or Employer Employer or Employee Employee? Another question this time assuming first answer correct: One works for the other? Yes or no? Assuming answer is yes a contract (agreement) was made at time of employment between E and E or E and 6 or E and Unions? Assuming you were one person looking for a job how is it you DEMAND to run an organization you did not build? Assuming you have the “right” to do whatever you want of course. Assuming is a.for idiots, b.non thinkers c.persons who want to lose their jobs? Easy peasy. I betcha you passed the test. It was really easy. This was fun wasn’t it? Yes or no? Go help someone for Christmas that doesn’t have a job, k? Pick one who is non union. Texas Tea, that’s me.
  
  Report this comment
Mess23
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:47pm
Why aren’t the environmentalists pissed at the unions for doubling the carbon output by using two trucks where only one is needed? Don’t the unions know Odumbo want s to reduce fossil fuel consumption?

Remember, look for the Union Label, then buy American!!!

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- Mess23
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:51pm
  Also, how many of the 6000 union members are pissed with their union leaders for getting them fired right before Christmas? We know the other 12,500 innocent workers are pissed at them.
  
  Report this comment
RaydocX
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:46pm
Ready for Chinese ho hos?
Saw the quote by the baker union head that they weren’t responsible for the closure, ‘poor management’ was…
Is that all the times the capitulated to union demands for more more more?

Sorry but the truth is, the union refusal to maintain an 8% pay cat in a company still working but having difficulty DID kill the company… Even if his claims are true, the company was viable until the union refused any cut…

So much for protecting the workers… Have fun at Christmas time with no job… Remember to thank your local union !

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Git-R-Done
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:43pm
Unions don’t care if a company stays in business or not.

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- charles116
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:12pm
  Why doesn’t the article mention the TRIPLING OF EXECUTIVE SALARIES
  during these hard times.
  Answer” It doesn’t fit the union busting narrative.
  
  Report this comment
- Exrepublisheep
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:20pm
  CHARLES116. Correct.
  
  Report this comment
- barber2
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:24pm
  Offensive Photo Charles: Check out the union bosses” salaries ” during these hard times.” Ho. Ho. Am sure those guys have cut their salaries and are working for charity ?! Also, I question whether those 3X salaries were actually now or THEN : back in the days before Obama / ACORN caused housing crash … when we had a healthy economy. You Lefties are good at throwing around allegations and statements…. not so good at checking out the facts behind those allegations and statements.
  
  Report this comment
- Chromo200
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 10:48pm
  CHARLES116 Do you have any proof on you comment . I can’t seem to find any.
  
  Report this comment
- J.C. McGlynn
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 10:53pm
  Another thing about the unions. Did anyone notice that General Electric sent over 60000 IBEW jobs to
  China and the union leadership has said nothing or is it my imagination?
  
  Report this comment
- charles116
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 12:59pm
  The salary thing is all over the net. Try the Huff Post.
  
  Report this comment
- The Gooch
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 3:13pm
  Here’s a thought: Plenty of blame and guilt likely to go around. “GASP!” Could it be that BOTH sides of the equation took a “MY WAY OR NO WAY!” approach to this concern? Shocking.
  This appears to be a microcosm of the country: P!$$ poor management coupled with a demanding general population. A marriage made in Failure Hell. Think about it… and then embrace your bastards as you will. Or don’t think. Just bellow like a loyal partisan on your team’s sideline.
  I know one thing: If you can’t make it selling junk food in a country where the number one health concern is obesity, you likely deserve to fail… or there is something fundamentally wrong with your corporate structure.
  
  Report this comment
- The Gooch
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 3:22pm
  And now for my beautiful, intelligent, and apolitical wife’s question: How do you move to legalize pot and kill Hostess at the same time?
  
  Report this comment
- cosette
  Posted on November 18, 2012 at 6:17pm
  @ Thirteenth gen…. Do you know for a FACT that “Snowleopard ” never contributed to the S.S. system? How can you know for a fact such personal information. I believe you lied as most liberals do about their opponents. Furthermore if all of us tea party activists moved to Texas and were blessed enough to succeed from this corrupt government who would pay for all the freebies bestowed upon this nation of rapacious parasites a.k.a. the “gimmiedat” party?
  
  Report this comment
- cosette
  Posted on November 18, 2012 at 6:25pm
  @ Chaeles… I wouldn’t visit hufpo with YOUR fingers, I would feel violated if I did. But even if your claim is true so what? The people who have invested heavily in the company don’t owe the people who merely work there an answer to your question. If they had a problem with the execs’ making a boat load of money and felt slighted by it they could have quit at any time. As it turns the filthy rich hated fat cat execs’ will be just fine, The grunts, who chose to turn down the co. offer, will pay for their shortsighted loyalty to their ideology and union. So who suffers? The grunts that’s who. S**t flows downhill, if you don”t know that by now you’re more dense than I thought.
  
  Report this comment
lessoneleg
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:36pm
the types like Mooochelle Obama and the progressives demanding goofy foods in all public confectionary seller locations killed Hostess. Schools, libraries, public places, all followed the Mayor Bloomberg method of Mooochelle Obama. Ban the Twinkie, ban the confectionary foods, ban this ban that, and you know what?
Market demand dictates what’s made or not made. And the Banning Bunch of whacko’s got exactly what they wanted, a company to fail. But don’t stop there, the National Union representing the Local Union of Confectionary Workers is dodging and weaving trying to get out of their proportional share of this story. The facts are National Union, your Local Rep from Head Office advised wrong and pushed a strike vote that was previously forewarned that structural failure would occur if Union activities didn’t help support the Company at this time. No, the Union is claim executives in the company are doubling up wages to themselves. Sorry pal, your National Union screwed up.
Maybe you should spend more time out of your Diversity Training Program or GLBT Awareness Classes and read the Financial Times concerning your market share was blown up by Moochelle Obama and other hard left voter base that your boneheaded supporters and Unions supports first, instead of their jobs.

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- smokie
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 12:35pm
  Betcha Michelle’s got a vault full of Twinkies locked up and safe for her personal enjoyment
  
  Report this comment
- shorelineliz
  Posted on November 18, 2012 at 9:07am
  I immediately thought of that fat cow Moochelle too. Eating pie. Laughing and Laughing. As she eats pie. And her middle age spread, doth spread, and spread and spread. There is one good thing about this story. Thousands of ex Hostess workers will be so anti union that they will give these unions the full force of their revenge and that is a sweet thought! This whole situation just tells America that UNIONS ARE BAD FOR US! GET RID OF THEM ALL!
  
  Report this comment
starman70
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:33pm
OOOOPS, Hit the wrong button.

Why doesn’t the Bakers Union and the Teamsters go in together and buy Hostess. Both unions have millions of dollars in the bank. Thyey6 could team up and save the Twinkie, Sno-Ball and all the other brands Americans have come to love.

But it seems that these union bosses don’t gove a rat’s azz about the workers. If they really cared about the workers they would do everything in their power to their jobs. THEY DON’T!! They have their millions of dollars forcefully extracted from the workers pay and so the union bosses will be able to live in the lap of luxury, running a smaller union and pay themselves many times what the highest paid worker on the floor ever thought of making.

Hey union workers, how does it feel to get screwed by those who you entrusted to look out for your best interests, your union bosses? How will it feel to you when you stand in unemployment lines and your former union leadership continues to pull down SIX FIGURE salarys with benefits all from money taken from you in dues?

WHO ARE THE REAL LOSERS IN THIS – - – IT’S THE RANK AND FILE WORKERS!!!

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- 13th Generation American
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 1:21am
  You’re a loser for even writing this drivel. And you sit there and collect Social Security, you’re a total a hole and the primary reason this country is suffering you lazy piece of crapp.
  
  Graduate 5th grade did ya? Go to Texas and secede and get out of here and take your circus inbred banjo totin half wit family with you. You make me sick.
  
  Report this comment
- tajloc
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 9:12am
  I am reading and can’t find a critical piece. No one denies that the union wants more money and benies. Easy to substantiate BUT the evidence that the CEO got 3X the cash is not proven. If you have evidence then show it!
  Hx shows that the union lies about this stuff. Is this another lie. If it is then the whole argument fails. I believe that there are two sides BUT we need the truth. How can we help or hinder unless both sides really put truth down. I suspect the bosses are padding there side as well. It might go something like this, “Let’s require just one truck to a site so that they will get in a huff about it and force confrontation.” Ok I get that but just lieing about CEO $ is not an arguement.
  
  Report this comment
- dr pepper
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 10:35pm
  13th, great post, Start with insults, progress your point further with a dig at the age of starman, show great prowess in your debating skills by making a human value statement and then cast blame for our economic fiscal crisis on star man.have You have so deftly proved your point that it is almost impossible for me to see it any other way than as you see it. Alas, I must defy your logic and absolutely disagree.
  
  Now, seeing as I do not support your irrational premise, I will dispel your hapless retorts. I do not collect social security, I have actually graduated from a 4 year college and I do belong to a union. I feel unions are a monopoly. They spend my dues on politicians instead of trying to best serve their members. it’s all about trying to keep power. Spare me your insult laced rant and please try to advance your point without using insults, but rather with evidence that is not anecdotal.
  
  Report this comment
- shorelineliz
  Posted on November 18, 2012 at 9:08am
  Because: The Name of the Game is Divide and Conquer by THUGGERY!
  
  Report this comment
- cosette
  Posted on November 18, 2012 at 6:51pm
  !3 th gen…. Hit a nerve did he? It would seem as though what you lack in a valid argument you make up for in 4th grade level school yard name calling. Now I will wait for the vile barrage of insults and pejoratives I’m sure to receive from you. After all it’s M.O. of the Gimmiedat party.
  
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- cosette
  Posted on November 18, 2012 at 6:59pm
  @ Dr. Pepper… thank you for your most excellent post. Thirteenth will more than likely a.) Not answer you or b.) Attack you in a similar fashion. It’s how liberals respond when when they have no credible answer.
  
  Report this comment
- dartvader123
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 2:53am
  Just like a liberal when your arguments are torn to shreds you revert to name calling and bigot filled remarks. The unions pushed too hard in a bad economy and they cost their fellow workers their jobs. I suggest you do some reading and educate yourself rather than spend time being insulting and downright rude with your comments.
  
  Report this comment
- dartvader123
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:02am
  This comment is directed at 13th Generation American
  Just like a liberal when your arguments are torn to shreds you revert to name calling and bigot filled remarks. The unions pushed too hard in a bad economy and they cost their fellow workers their jobs. I suggest you do some reading and educate yourself rather than spend time being insulting and downright rude with your comments.
  
  Report this comment
- dartvader123
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 3:12am
  Liberals like 13th Generation American have a lack of sense and are so blinded by their lack of research that they tend to say things that are never ever based on any fact other than the lies daily put forward by the democratic drivel machines (msnbc, huff, media matters etc.) They should do their own research and wake up to the reality of the disastrous liberal agenda which will ultimately destroy American society .
  
  Report this comment
progressiveslayer
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:27pm
Unions kill every business they infect,you need to look no further than government motors the union destroyed that company years ago.

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RANGER1965
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:19pm
From my reading about this situation, I think it was a little of both. Hostess, was unprepared for the shift in American culture regarding healthier eating. They kept plodding along as the lost more and more market share.

At the same time unions managed to increase labor costs to the point that Hostess declared bankruptcy early this year. They were just beginning to work things out and get their creditors paid off when “BAM!” the baker’s union it them again. They didn’t have the capitol to pay their bills and survive a strike so they did the only thing left to them.

The union thugs however refused to see reality. They live in a socialists paradise much like our federal reserve, where money can just be magically produced from nothing. Unfortunately Hostess didn’t have a currency printing press.

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- BigRighty
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 11:49pm
  Yeah, nobody ever buys junk food anymore. You Dope
  
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starman70
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:18pm
Add your comments

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Stelex
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:14pm
If the unions regain a foothold……we will be a socialist nation or worse. We have strayed so far from true capitalism you can’t even see it any more. Our Government is dysfuntional and dealing in government run capitalism to the point where Joe Average doesn’t have a chance. Washington needs to be dismantled or we need to actually have a revolution. There are no more option. Things will get worse and quick. Find your breaking point………….what does it take, for me I think of what my son is gonna face. It ain’t pretty from what I can tell. Tea Party…..American…..time to grow a set and get angry….get in your rep and sens face loud and fierce. Call, email and find like minded folk.

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PigFox
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:09pm
Let the RNC buy Hostess, hire illegal aliens and Blacks who WANT to work, and then DARE the Democrats to say something!

Rock the Vote!

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- melissap1987
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:51pm
  Good idea! :)
  
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tootsie roll
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:07pm
This is so sad a company in business for 82 years. I never ate the twinkies but I remember going to the store for the Wonder Bread with those colorful dots on the wrappers.
This is the final knife in its OWN BACK. WHEN the money is gone your job and outrageous benefits will follow. UNIONS ARE LEACH’S WHO WILL EVENTUALLY SUCK THEIR OWN BLOOD

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- Dave.the.Blaze
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:14pm
  Sorry, but so many of you saying that the auto companies should just be allowed to die off and not bailed out? How about the idea that companies just die. They can blame the unions all they want, but this company has been in trouble for years.
  
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- barber2
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:18pm
  And then provide The Far Left with their street riots….so Europe..so expected…
  
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- marybethelizabeth
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:56pm
  It is predatory capitalism killing Hostess.
  Don’t just react.
  Look at the facts.
  This is a venture capitalist wealth transfer to the wealthy elite.
  
  If you cared about the 18,000 jobs, you would join the union fight.
  
  Again conservative false premises takes precedence over humanity.
  
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- barber2
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:15pm
  Comrade Mary: that ” predatory capitalism” provided many people with good jobs, homes, education, and hope for their children’s futures. That, dear comrade, was BEFORE Obama and the Far Left were droned into America by the media. Now you can look forward to a future of ” hate- the- rich riots,” poor paying government jobs, loss of personal freedoms, and a depressing life. But, hey, kid, what do you know ? ( Psst: read about that prime ” anti-capitalist” state: the USSR. You’ll LOVE it ! Check out their ” vacation ” spots : the gulags. ) WAKE UP, kid.
  
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- DIR
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 12:25am
  @MARYLIPSCHITZ: “It is predatory capitalism killing Hostess.”
  
  Yea sure. What’s this “Predatory capitalism” crap? Using old stale left wing talking points is pretty obvious and lame. My suggestion is go to a college and take ‘business 101′ to get an idea of reality and so you can somewhat talk intellegently about such matters. You won’t have to use those old left wing trite sayings anymore.
  
  In this case Labor was the preditor. Management and Labor are suppose to work together. Labor could have taken the pay cut for now and if things got better renegotiated several years down the road. No, they wouldn’t do that. The owners (stock holders) can do with the company what they want. It’s a free country. If they wanted to run the company into the ground they can, but its not likely. If they want to pay executives top dollar to make it work they can. If that means taking it from the little guy, so be it. If workers didn’t like it they could quit and get a better paying job at a more labor friendly company. Oh no! It was labors choice not to cooperate.
  
  If labor is so concerned for the worker and thinks it can do a better job of managing let them purchase Hostess with union funds and run it. It’s for sale! They won’t. If Uncle Sam picks it up, then that’s ok because the tax payer is taking all the risk with little chance of a positive return. If Barry picks up Hostess, another money laundering government business will have been formed. It sure worke
  
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- grayling646
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 3:31pm
  Mary,
  I hope ever union fails. The union will hire an energetic, hard working man and turn him into a lazy slug. Same for a woman.
  
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- cosette
  Posted on November 19, 2012 at 6:49pm
  @ Mary elizabeth…. If you would crawl out from in under that burka, and give your oxygen starved brain a breather you could probably think a little more clearly.
  
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watashbuddyfriend
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:07pm
Ok, now is the time for the 18,000 employees to suck up the gut, and purchase Hostess! An employee owened company would save a lot of jobs.

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- dinkydau
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:13pm
  fool
  
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- progressiveslayer
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:21pm
  Yes a bunch of high school dropouts will run the corporation,makes perfect sense.
  
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- watashbuddyfriend
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 8:14am
  @dinkydau
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:13pm
  
  “fool”
  
  You mean you are calling yourself a “fool?”
  
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possom
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:04pm
This is the day union greed killed the twinkie!

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woodflash
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:00pm
OK Mitt, this is your moment to shine. Save the Twinkies, PLEASE!

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- dinkydau
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:18pm
  Sorry.barry is in charge dumbass
  
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- melissap1987
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:54pm
  This is OBummers show…didn’t you get the message? He “won” the election!
  
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- dr pepper
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 10:42pm
  So your saying this is Obama’s fault. Better watch out, because he does not take blame for anything bad. His goons will be looking for you real soon.
  
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Eastinfection
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 7:53pm
If it’s consumer indifference, then the quality of the product is to blame…
All their crap… Twinkies, Ring-Dings, Cup-cakes…whatever… all went through multiple tweaks in their formulas over the years that introduced preservatives and substitute ingredients that made the cream less creamy, the chocolate less chocolatey, etc.
I only buy them when i’m desperate and my choices of junk food are limited.

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- Stelex
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:02pm
  I beg to differ…….its the Unions. The crap and it is crap still flies off the shelves, I see it all the time. Unions are a plaque on America, they are a socialist concept and need to be taken down, they served a purpose back in the day when there were no labor laws but now they are just power players steering us into socialism.
  
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- FreeUsAll
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:04pm
  “made the cream less creamy, the chocolate less chocolatey, etc.”
  
  Lol. Thanks, Mr. Wonka.
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:52pm
  STELEX…
  
  I agree that the Unions are to blame in the company’s downfall.
  I still assert, however, that many of these products suck compared to the way they once tasted…
  far too many preservatives….
  Twinkies used to last three days… now it’s 25 days… (the 150 yrs BS is a myth)
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:55pm
  FREEUS…
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw0zZttfUaw
  
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Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 7:50pm
Union: Look all you union brothers and sisters, just listen to me, I will get you a great deal
Hostess: We are closing the doors, thank you for playing.
Workers: ??? Hey, I just lost my job, where is my great deal?
Union: Who are you, you aint got a union job no more. Don’t talk to me until you get a union job. Let me go count my cash.

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- Stelex
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 7:58pm
  Bingo……these idiots just don’t get it. I worked union 25 years ago, I felt like I was working for the MOB.
  
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- rickc34
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:02pm
  Twinkies never go bad ….but it was Union greed and a stupid liberal ceo that took it down. Cannot believe that the maker of Ho Ho’s supported Obama. Maybe that’s what took them down.
  
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- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:13pm
  It’s the Ding Dongs that was their downfall, always the Ding Dongs.
  
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randy
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 7:43pm
I look for the Union Label every time I purchase something.
And if I find one, It goes back on the shelf!

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- Stelex
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:03pm
  I wish everyone did that Randy….thank you.
  
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- starman70
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:17pm
  GREAT IDEA!!!! Thanks.
  
  By the way, a man once told me after I asked him why he was driving a new Toyota (All made in Japan at that time) when there were American cars available. He said ,” I earn $12 per hour. Why should I buy a car from a unionized company where workers get $40 per hour. I can identify with and relate to a Japanese worker who earns $8 per hour far better than I can an American wouker with such outrageous wages.” Now this was quite a few years ago, but the sentament is still the same.
  
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- AJAYW
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 8:44am
  Same here Randy wish more people did the same.
  
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Dave.the.Blaze
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 7:41pm
I’d imagine a combination. This company was in multiple bankruptcies over the past 7 or so years, so either is was bad management or they wanted to kill it off. As for the union issue, I’ll bet is was more pensions than current wages. The pensions should have been renegotiated.

Oh, and Twinkies never really die. The ones you ate in 1985 are still impacted on the side of your colon.

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- CourageousGeorge
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 9:53am
  They wanted to kill it off? Really?
  Kill off the enterprise that pays you?
  Ask the workers AND the management if they WANTED to kill off the enterprise that pays them. Guess what, they will all answer the same. “No, we want it to live and grow”.
  The union leaders called their bluff and they weren’t bluffing. That’s because the money was gone.
  
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wvernon1981
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 7:40pm
Here is the real issue: how do we recouple wage growth with productivity growth for everyone rather than wage growth being heavily weighted towards the top earners.

http://www.epi.org/blog/real-hourly-wage-growth-last-generation/

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- drs1969
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:01pm
  Stop carrying trade deficits w/ China and other 3rd world labor markets where they earn just a few dollars a day. No American can live on that w/o ovarall deflation of around 95-110%. The thief, Bernanke has made it abundantly clear he’s not going to allow deflation (because his fellow banking crooks would be broke). If not, we’re going to have decades of Japanese, ‘Zombie’ economy.
  
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- Stelex
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:07pm
  Bomb the crap out of everyone everywhere, then they have to turn to us for stuff. No?
  
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- Git-R-Done
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:42pm
  Change careers and get something that pays more with better job security. That’s what I did.
  
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- barber2
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:53pm
  WVERN: Hail, comrade. Hit the streets! Off with their heads ! How sadly brainwashed you are. Wish you would start your own business so you could have a clue . Democrats seem so intent on destroying private enterprise which provide man with his hardest way to success, but his best hope for independence and economic success. When the chance to be your own capitalist/ have your own business is gone, America is doomed to Mao jackets, voting for Big Brother, and little freedom. These Democrat con artist are so playing with you young , and you are so uneducated and unprepared to see their fraud. They are political Bernie Madoffs- selling you a yoke of servitude to Big Brother all wrapped inside this ” hate the rich ” which boils down to a nasty, repressive form of Marxism.
  
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denkat56
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 7:37pm
I blame the union, for forgetting about the basic right of working. Their rhetoric of the upper 10% getting all the money doesn’t matter. The federal courts will have to see who gets what and how much. I’ll bet the union will be there wanting their fair share, they’re like lawyer’s they get paid no matter win, lose or draw.
I

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barber2
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 7:36pm
I just wonder when the Obama crew will start the street riots. The downward economic that the Democrats are planning, mixed with their ” target the rich / conservatives , ” will only lead to damage and violence which is exactly what these Democrats have planned.

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- dinkydau
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:17pm
  Soon I hope.
  
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- progressiveslayer
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:23pm
  I’m more than ready.
  
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- Stelex
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:31pm
  I ain’t getting any younger…..lets go.
  
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- progressiveslayer
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 8:44pm
  It’ll be like the walking dead,just light em up.
  
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Bonnieblue2A
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 7:35pm
Management and unions. Chekc out how top Dem. lobbiest Dick Gephart’s son was pulling down $100K from Hostess as an “independent” director of the Corp. . Coincidence that Dick Gephardt is a lobbiest for the Teamsters? Sounds like upper-level corruption at the union management and those Dems. with political ties. Unions are parasites that feed upon the host until they bleed them dry and they die. Then it is on to the next victim.

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- charles116
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:21pm
  Management bled the company dry
  And Hostess makes Trailer trash “food”
  I don’t know anyone who would touch their tasteless, nutritionless white “bread’”.
  And as I posted earlier other source mention the lavish TRIPLED exec salaries -
  but not this one. Slanted piece to say the least.
- Do The Right Thing
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 10:36pm
  Hey Charlie, if you’ve ever gone to a fair which had a fried twinkie vendor, you would have a little more love of an All American treat. Too late now, though. People don’t consume them daily, as a general rule, as far as I know. For Heavens sake lighten up a little!
  
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- charles116
  Posted on November 17, 2012 at 2:41pm
  I only eat high quality crap, like good chocolates or deserts at a restaurant KNOWN for their desserts.
  
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Tri-ox
Posted on November 16, 2012 at 7:32pm
It’s all obama’s fault.

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- Advection
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:21pm
  It’s Obama’s economy now. Or is he still not claiming responsibility for his own actions?
  
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- barber2
  Posted on November 16, 2012 at 9:34pm
  AD: He still blames . Probably now it’s American ” capitalism” since that is what the Ayers/ Obama Chicago crowd were sent to destroy….
  
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