If they close, another company will buy the brands at liquidation and put out the products - they are not going anywhere. And, 18K people will lose their job because of a clueless union who thinks it is 1957. News Flash: with 25M people looking for and or full time work, the skills of a factory baker are not all that special.

good riddance to bad food. its all junk, it doesn't taste good (wonderbread is the worst offender) and we could all use a few less twinkies in our shopping aisle.

Short sighted union employees and greedy union leaders. Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face.........

Again a sign of poor management and lack of creativity! They've been selling the stuff for years without any improvements.
Maybe some new ideas like adding cafine to the Twinkies and selling them as an energy bar would help sales!

My Grandfather worked for years in a factory and then in management at Interstate Bakeries, the owners of Hostess. I am said to hear this is the fate of a company that is such a part of my family's history.
It does seem the company lost touch with the healthier food choices consumers demand today.

This is the second time this company has been in backruptcy recently. It is the fault of incompetent management. Not the union who made several concessions over the years. Those concession also went to bonus to the management which caused the problems. This is all well documented and easy to verify.

Just posted about this in the EyeOnPeabody blog. Let me know if you agree:
http://eyeonpeabody.com/2012/11/16/what-would-the-doc-have-done-without-any-twinkies/

Ridiculous that the author tried to divert our attention from the union by pointing out that these foods are on the decline. These are two different issues. Despite the efforts of The first lady to tell us what we can eat there is still demand for these products. The problem is that the union does not allow the company to scale itself to the shrinking demand. This is the same thing the automotive unions did. They were unwilling to concede anything themselves so the tax payers had to concede for them. When times are good the unions cry for more, when times are bad they still cry for more.

What people do not know ,is even if this iconic company stayed in business the management team really had no clue how to fix there financial issues. I was a teamster employee for Hostess who was not on strike and I commend the BCTfor standing up to a company that w making a mockery of these historic brands . Maybe after liquidation someone can reintroduce the products into the market and make a profit unlike hostess that has 8.5 billon in sales a year but is 1.5 billon in debt. Who is fooling who.

Welcome to Obama Nation....

Hope and Change! This is just a taste of what is to come and all of you who believed the lies and distortions and the Alinsky tactics will rue the day.

Sadly those of us who knew the fall was delivered on election day will be swept up in the Obamanation mess. Bengazi will be tip of the iceberg. Face it,
we backed up the Titanic and hit the iceberg twice.

and so it begins................Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center announced they will eliminate 950 full-time positions to be eliminated by June 30, 2013. This is Navajo Code Talk for Obamacare.

"Dr. McConnell CEO said. "This was about positioning ourselves for the future. Because it's vitally important, not just to this medical center but the region, that we continue to expand and grow along those strategic areas of patient care, research and education.

Job cuts that have been happening for months, including some announced Monday, are part of the parent company's effort to slash spending.

The drip-drip-drip of layoffs at NBCUniversal continued Monday with some New York-based television personnel getting their pink slips.

Twinkies and Wonder Bread and all those other Hostess products have gotten such a bad rap for many years - and perhaps rightfully so - that it was about time they closed shop. Hostess never seemed to change their product line to reflect the needs of consumers. I'm surprised it had managed to shuffle along this far.
I suspect the timing of this bankruptcy filing is a result of a growing epidemic that I like to call "The Angry CEO Syndrome", due to the recent election results. Symptoms include passive aggressive behavior by managers and executives, who tend to toss out a plethora of potentially baseless excuses such as "ObamaCare" and "unions" before laying off hundreds of their employees and, like Hostess above, filing for bankruptcy. Never is concern for employees or their health and well-being publicly articulated as much as the concern for more profits. Never is poor management faulted, but victimization by some kind of anti-business climate from elsewhere is often claimed. We've already seen a few egregious examples of this from companies such as Massey Energy and Papa John's, and we should expect to see many more in the coming weeks.

If Hostess management made mistakes in not improving their products, it is still a market for the twinkies. Are you going to tell me the unions are better at managing a company? Or they care about employees? Those 18.5 thousand employees were better being employed rather than joining the millions of unemployed Americans.
Unions are America's cancer, and if not treated that cancer will sink USA.

We have now almost 50% of government employees "unionized" , we have around 7% or little more in private industries. Q. From the 90 something % not unionized private business and the bloated, inefficient, demanding, striking prone, government unionized sector? I know is very hard to know. Which group produces more goods that customer want which one produces the wealth that ends supporting the ever growing and demanding bureaucracy?

Unions have no place in the public sector. Period

Sure, it's all the fault of the unions. See: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/16/1203151/why-unions-dont-shoulder-the-blame-for-hostesss-downfall/?fb_action_ids=3879820716630&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map=%7B%223879820716630%22%3A376267935790879%7D&action_type_map=%7B%223879820716630%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

"...as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then 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."

The AFL-CIO would not allow twinkies and bread to be delivered by the same truck. What does the head of the union earn as compared to his minions. PUHLEEZE.

On another front the bleeding continues an America adjusts to more rules and regulation including Obamacare. You voted for it, you got it! Enjoy! Say Hello to 29 hour work weeks which delivers fewer benefits. There aren't enough hours in the week for the minimally skilled labor force to put food on the table. Hello government dole. One thing for sure, it will deliver more Democrats to the party. Good Lord.

and another........Gamestop now closing 200 stores.

Why settle for an 8% decrease in pay, when you can decrease your pay 100%!,...smart negotiating!

Boeing announced layoffs and Proctor and Gamble, the world's largest consumer-product company, just annonced plans to cut its nonmanufacturing workforce by an additional 2% to 4% annually through fiscal year 2014 to 2016. That comes on top of plans to reduce its nonmanufacturing jobs by 10%, or 5,700, by the end of its current fiscal year ending June 30. 4 more years YAY!!!

The devastating truth here is that what we are seeing is the PERMANENT downfall of our country. In the next 4 years, Obama will continue his uncontrolled spending, and more and more people will be put on the public dole (welfare, food stamps, false disability). Eventually, as Margaret Thatcher state, you run out of "other people's" money to spend and it all comes crashing down. When you then try to take away all the "free stuff" Obama has given them, like Greece, there will be rioting in the streets. Hard to believe that, in a short period of time, one man has managed to destroy a country from WITHIN. Liberalism truly IS a mental illness.

The Government Media Complex will spin this as a good thing and the lemmings will buy it.

Jeff and John: Sadly, you could not be more spot on. The only creation from this mess is a lifetime of Dem supporters with out stretched hands. "Liberalism is a mental illness" We have examples of how it all "works" or doesn't work, yet the liberals run toward the plan, like a moth to the flame. Yep! That's a mental disease: Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome.

Donna, As New Hampshire continues on a liberal path, I am convinced there is a medical connection to the liberal condition of the Northeast. I have it narrowed down to either something in the water, or a lack of sunlight in winter.

What's happening in this country reminds me of one of those "Scary Movie" spoofs where a female character, running from the killer, comes upon two road signs, one says "safety", the other says "certain death" and, as always happens in the actual horror movies, she chooses certain death. American is now choosing certain death.

And here's another example of where we are at, Obama consulting with Al Sharpton (Al Sharpton !!!) on FISCAL matters:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-consults-msnbc-host-al-sharpton-and-other-civil-rights-leaders-fiscal-talks_663493.html

As Grandma used to say " Saints preserve us"

Bernie "Made-off" was probably busy. Sharpton was a good choice because he doesn't pay his bills either.

Here's what 4 more years of the anti-Christ will give us a LOT more of...utter morons like this. Liberals: Yes, they are that stupid...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL-a-r7iJIU

WHAT??!!! What will I eat without Hostess Cakes.

David: Most importantly, what will the 18,000 unemployed do?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DL-a-r7iJIU

Hardly the issue David, Focus. What will their 18,000 employees do? So many opportunities out there, what will they choose?

I believe Hostess also owns Drakes, Dolly Madison and a few others,- now all gone.

once upon a time unions could strike and eventually get what they want - now companies file bankruptcy. The days of unions are over. Watch "Waiting for Superman" and see how unions are responsible for the underperforming public schools in our country.

Hello? What about the private equity firm that bought the "undervalued" company, took the cash reserves, loaded it up with debt and pocketed millions, leaving Hostess unable to service the new debt load AND operate profitably?

It wasn't Bain, but it was the same culture capitalist M.O.

Don't let the facts get in your way as you blame the victims.

"The Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union pointed this out in their written reaction to the news that the business is closing:
BCTGM members are well aware that as the company was preparing to file for bankruptcy earlier this year, the then 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://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/16/1203151/why-unions-dont-shoulder-the-blame-for-hostesss-downfall/

pk cites a progressive website,...totally unbiased. This company was around for decades and the union destroyed them, and I was once on the negotiating committee for the Hotel workers, Local 26 and I know the progressive socialists want to blame the "evil capitalist", but that's not true.

There are all kinds of websites one can use to validate their point of view, but that doesn't mean they tell the whole story.

Doesn't it make you wonder what head of AFL-CIO Trumpka is earning. I am sure just pennies.......The hypocrisy of the left is mind blowing.

All you anti union wackos! We voted you out.Romney's buy out boys came in sucked the money out and closed it! Someone with good business sense should buy it Fix the working conditions put the productive people back to work and start making profit again.The CORPORATE RAIDERS are the ones that destroy business. Not the unions. Just remember to the bloggers on this site,WE OUT NUMBER YOU! Move back to Kansas! Take old bi-partisan Brown with you!

WE OUT NUMBER YOU! Move back to Kansas! Take old bi-partisan Brown with you!, You evil rich racists, - you're responsible for everything that ever happened in the world,- blah, blah blah. Obama Good - Romney Bad- blah blah

Masshole liberal,- Repent!

A Masshole is a Mass. liberal who sends a Senator back to office after he murders a woman, or who sends a Congressman back to DC after he sleeps with the head of Fannie Mae when he is on the finance committee, or when his boyfriend runs a prostitution ring out of his house, or sends a man back to congress after his wife is caught running an offshore gambling operation,...in other words, Massholes have no God and value nothing unless it comes from the tit of government.

Pk: Victims? They are employees or were employees. Now they are among the millions looking for work. Way to go union. Wake up.

Don't you love. "We outnumber you, move" Only a lib in America thinks like that but I agree. Being liberal is a mental disorder, I am sure there is a government program for that. Look what they have wrought!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DL-a-r7iJIU

Donna, I think that "clever" young man works in DC managing "Obama Money"---God help us all.

Secession may not be a bad idea because in time, the government dependent liberals would cannibalize each other,---win, win.

No kidding! I have watched that video a few times now. I thought it must be staged but no. Sadly, it is real and there are so many more like him. White, black, pink and brown. Young, healthy and entitled.

I'm optimistic now that Chief Warren has won, - if there is anyone who understands the struggles of working people, it's a Harvard law professor. Happy days.

I watched in horror her first press conference, When she asked Deval Patrick to answer a question regarding defense spending. He looked, quizzically and said, 'That one is all you" We have elected an idiot, who fudged her way into Harvard on the back of the real Cherokee people. But there was a "D" after her name sooooo. its all good.

In Mass., as long as you have a D after your name, you can drown a women and be considered "pro women". Even murder won't stop you from returning to office if you're a Democrat,- how pathetic.

This action is the only way to get rid of the Union, close up shop and sell the assets to a "NEW" company with the same investors.

as always, crickets from the left.

Deval Deville gives discount tuition to illegals and plans a gas tax hike,...I've lived here my whole life and I see a bad moon on the rise,...time to go.

The Mass. Highway Safety commissioner offered me a ride,...but I think I'll walk!

Funny how everyone is blaming the labor unions for not accepting a pay cut considering that Hostess gave the CEO's a 300% increase in pay for burying the company in debt. It must be nice to go from making $750,000 to $2,250,000 driving a company into bankruptcy and instead of being portrayed as the greedy ineffectual at best mismanager that you are be given the stage to blame the labor union.

Mike labeling 18,000 workers who make less than 20 dollars an hour as greedy because they were unwilling to accept another pay cut of 8% and a 32% reduction of benefits is inappropriate and non applicable. All anyone has to do is look at a nearby competitor of hostess who is turning a profit while paying their workers substantially more to draw the conclusion of a Bain style bankruptcy here.

No Mike making concessions as the union had done is not greed. Making under 20 dollars an hour is not greed. Any attempt to say it is is baseless. On the other hand making 750 k and driving the company into debt and into bankruptcy while putting the responsibility entirely on labor and in turn tripling your already substantial pay and others is greed. This wasn't the first pay cut the workers were asked to take. It was the last. Hostess became an unreasonable poor employer and no concession labor could ever make would right the ship. Hostess went bankrupt by design from the top. It didn't erode at the bottom. Workers weren't over paid. As Bain would say " Hostess was harvested".

Yeah I agree Mike and I believe the Hostess employees agreed also by drawing the line knowing the consequences but this is being used to wrongfully attack labor unions. The problem isn't unions here. The problem is mismanagement and greed at the top. If a man is free to capitalize on his idea than a man is free to capitalize on his labor. You need to balance both. I think we would agree on that. I think we disagree where most of the weight is on the scale here. I am using math and history.Increasing pay 300% to 2.5 million to one guy who's job it is to make ends meet and an 8% cut in pay to a guy who makes 17 bucks an hour making the product people buy after already cutting his pay a number of times is not balanced to me.

You're saying that no only are the employees/unions not greedy, they're also martyr's? That's a tough one to accept.

Since nearby competitors were already offering better pay than Hostess, isn't man already free to capitalize on their labor? Why would Hostess workers continue to work for an unprofitable company with greedy management when nearby competitors are profitable and offer better pay?

Here's the wikipedia entry for the company for those interested in facts rather than opinions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostess_Brands

Its ok....lets a new generation start a company from scratch
..forest fires spawn new growth.....

Do you think the competitor has 18,000 open positions......? Just say'in

Maybe if Hostess didn't sell such crap they wouldn't be in this position. Is there anything worth eating in their entire product line?

The market dictates need/desire. A corporation presents a product at a price whereby they make money. Every corporation puts a price on a job. They decide the value of that position and that is all they will pay for the performance of that job. Period. The union crossed the boundary of profitability. Any company picking up the pieces will not pick up an overpriced work force.

HOSTESS BRANDS TO ENTER MEDIATION WITH BAKERS UNION

Irving, TX – November 19, 2012 – Hostess Brands Inc. announced today that it will follow a request from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to enter a confidential mediation on Tuesday with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM).

Today’s hearing to consider Hostess Brands’ motion to wind down the Company and sell all of its assets has been adjourned until 11 a.m., EST, on Wednesday.

Hostess Brands
Hostess
Wonder bread
Nature's Pride
Merita
Dolly Madison snack cakes
Drake’s
Home Pride
Beefsteak bread

Mike google is your friend. The so called competitor is Bimbo Bakeries and they pay their drivers 400 bucks more a week than Hostess and are running a successful business and Donna I brought up that point to emphasize that the problem wasn't greedy labor unions or over paid workers not to imply that all 18500 workers were going to be hired by Bimbo. Mike you talk about not making sense yet try and label someone who has already made sizable concessions to save the company but refuses to concede another 8% pay cut and 32% loss of benefits while making under 20 dollars an hour as greedy while clearly defending management that has had court rulings against it by reversing bogus bonus's given to that management. Is it starting to make sense now ?

Bobby - And when was it that I defended management? Hostess is what in sports we call a losing team. The manager can be lousy and the players can be lousy or both. I stand by my statement - if Bimbo is such a great place to work, why don't the employees take flight? Most of the employees aren't bakers - their skills should transfer to other companies. I think the answer is that other companies don't pay as well (hence my calling the employees greedy - like we all are).

And don't bring Donna into this - she's been making extremely sensible posts.

Killing the Goose - http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell112012.php3

Mike and Donna just so you know I love it when I wake up in the morning and Obama is President. Elizabeth Warren being a senator is just the icing on the cake. You can feel bad if it makes you feel better. Best wishes and do have a good Thanksgiving .

Well now that Twinkies are gone ,, bring on the cockroaches !!!
We will out last them all !

Bobby...God says I'll be okay, but he's pretty sure you're screwed.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, May God help the 18,000 newly unemployed find some sort of work and get them through the holidays. Bobby: I hope you are blessed with a little tolerance and joy. Why so angry? America has survived bad Presidents before and here in Ma we have survived a murderer as Senator and felons as Speakers of the House. A liar and a cheat in the people's seat is what the voters asked for. They got it. It will be ok. I pray for peace in the Middle East and will thank God for all the great conversation on boards like this. Hearing all sides makes us better people; imagine how boring it would be if we all thought alike. Merry Christmas

As with any dispute, there is plenty of blame to be shared, and no one party is fully responsible or entirely off the hook. The proximate cause of Hostess' filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, contrary to anything that Bobby McCarthy has been writing here, is BCTGM's refusal to negotiate reductions. Eight of Hostess’ top 10 creditors are pension funds. It owes almost $1 billion to the bakers union & Industry International Pension Fund alone. And even the Teamsters Union told its members, "Teamster Hostess members and all Hostess employees should know this is not an empty threat or a negotiating tactic, but the certain outcome if members of the BCTGM continue to strike. This is based on conversations with our financial experts, who, because the Teamsters were involved in the legal process, had access to financial information about the company." Specifically, Hostess closed three plants on November 12, and gave the BCTGM until November 15 for employees to return to work in order to prevent liquidation of its 33 bakeries. When the company determined that an insufficient number of employees returned to work by that time, it then moved forward with liquidation. Readers should also know that Hostess did NOT give its CEO a salary increase -- those increases were proposed by the company but never happened, and in fact, the new CEO brought in earlier this year dropped the salaries for four top executives to $1 for the remainder of the year.

Management is also partly to blame. From a Fortune article back in July:

"Management promised to turn around the company's fortunes through innovation and workplace efficiency. It tried a limited-edition return of original banana-cream Twinkies and published The Twinkies Cookbook, which included such half-baked epicurean delights as Twinkie Sushi and Pigs in a Twinkie. But ancient delivery trucks and plant equipment didn't get replaced. The company's pricing often didn't keep pace with that of competitors. And Hostess still had ludicrous work rules: The Teamsters had separate drivers for deliveries of such goodies as Yankee Doodles and Nature's Pride Nutty Oat. (Of course this jobs-preserving work rule was agreed to by Hostess in the last labor negotiation.)"

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

And here is the irony in all of this: the current management team that was assembled by Ripplewood, a private equity firm (aka, "the Wall Street vulture capitalists") founded by major Democratic donor Timothy C. Collins. The private equity firm that wants to come in and save Hostess and the jobs of 18,500 workers (including 6,000 union employees) is Sun Capital Partners, whose founder is Marc J. Leder, who was identified by Mother Jones as the the person who hosted the private fundraiser at which Mitt Romney made his infamous 47% statement. Nope, I am not making this stuff up. I guess if wealthy "progressive Democrat" venture capitalists or the government can't save union jobs, there's always Republican plutocrats available who can.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/11/romney-47-party-host-may-rescue-thousands-of-union-jobs-at-hostess/

Here's an informative and opinionated hit piece about Hostess - includes some aspects of blame at least I haven't heard before.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324352004578130912150512612.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

?A U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved Hostess Brand’s plan to wind down the company after last-minute mediation last night between the snack maker and one of its biggest unions fell through. Hostess’ lawyer said earlier in the day that the company saw a ‘flood’ of interest from parties interested in buying its iconic brands. "

Thinking non union house after bankruptcy? The brand has value, although I cannot recall eating Hostess anything since elementary school. Two chocolate cupcakes with a white serpentine line, maybe Hostess.

Done

The question of whether unions are necessary is misguided. There is no other proven method to ensure that working-class people receive decent wages, safe working conditions, or a voice on the job. Unions continue to provide workers high-quality representation, helping them receive a fair share of the income their work generates while protecting them from capricious bosses, hazards on the job, and harassment from superiors. There are no other known systems that provide workers these benefits. Organized labor is central to any solution to our current economic problems.

It is worth noting that the heyday of organized labor coincided with the longest period of growth in the history of the American economy. Only strong unions can provide a fair piece of the economic pie to the working and middle-classes, creating a robust economy that benefits all Americans.

Do you think a minimally skilled worker, say at Wal-Mart or Hostess is worth more than they are paid today? Stocking shelves, checking out customers or baking bread? Do you feel people should be paid more for existing. We aren't talking a skilled mason, carpenter, electrician, HVAC employee. They deserve more money, they are trained, skilled valuable. If all of Wal_Mart or Hostess walked they would be replaced in days. Unions had a place in time and they delivered, vacation, better working conditions, sick time, and a fair wage. I am hard pressed to think that a higher wage is in order for hotel maids or Wal-Mart. It's not being mean, it's being reasonable. You would not pay as much for a Chevy as you might a Cadillac, right?

Donna in 1980 the ceo to worker pay ratio was 30 to 1 while today it is 450 to 1. Instead of worrying about the skill level of workers you might want to instead follow the money trail. Do you think a ceo who exports labor to desperate workers abroad while socializing the cost and privatizing the profits provides better value to you? Just sayin :)

I think a CEO is responsible to the stakeholders. He is paid to turn a profit. To be part of this global economy the US decided to elevate the standard of living of third world economies at the expense of US mfg jobs. The people who shop WalMart support cheap goods from China Thailand and Vietnam I understand the whole living wage argument , however. It is not the charge of a CEO to solve.

Silverspoon? My Dad is an immigrant, came to this country as a skilled carpenter, however, worked as a laborer until he started his own small construction company. There were many times I sat at a dinner table and watched my folks eat cereal while me and my sisters had meat, potatoes and vegetables. If you are referring to me as someone who had a "silver spoon." I grew up in NY in a cold water flat. The only silver spoon I had was being born into a family that had the good sense to know that if they worked hard the U.S. was the best place in the world for their children. That was my inheritance and I am grateful,

I am not knocking anyone I just don't believe all positions are equal. Most immigrants, German, Irish, Italian took any job they could get. They quickly learned where they did not want to be and did something about it. Today's illegal immigrant walks into, healthcare, food, shelter, education, pretty much everything that the immigrants of the last generation paid for with hard work. The bottom of the food chain is where most of us start out. I worked, while in high school, as a waitress. It is up to individual drive, ambition and desire to raise yourself from that level. I do not believe I earned any more or less than I was worth as a waitress. Made some good tips but it was not my dream job for sure. Worked for a crazy Greek chef, prone to throwing things. For sure, I learned quickly that this would not be a good career choice for me. My nature is to throw back! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

My biggest issue with unions is that it removes the need for individual achievement. They are about everyone doing an average job. Don't go showing the rest of the shop up by working too hard or by being too good at it because that makes the slackers look bad.

For anyone who still believes in the individual, Liberty and free enterprise,...these are dark times.

Darkest before the dawn. It will be ok.

Karla VallanceI is either a poor journalist or is deliberately trying to mislead because she left out a whole bunch of pertinent information.

What happens when vulture capitalism ruins a great American company?

The vultures blame the workers.

The vultures blame the union.

And vapid media outlets report the lie as “news.”

That’s what’s happening with the meltdown of Hostess Brands Inc.

Americans are being told that they won’t get their Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos because the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union ran the company into the ground.

But the union and the 5,600 Hostess workers represented by the union did not create the crisis that led the company’s incompetent managers to announce plans to shutter it.

The BCTGM workers did not ask for more pay.

The BCTGM workers did not ask for more benefits.

The BCTGM workers did not ask for better pensions.

The union and its members had a long history of working with the company to try to keep it viable. They had made wage and benefit concessions to keep the company viable. They adjusted to new technologies, new demands.

They took deep layoffs—20 percent of the workforce—and kept showing up for work even as plants were closed.

They kept working even as the company stopped making payment to their pension fund more than a year ago.

The workers did not squeeze the filling out of Hostess.

Hostess was smashed by vulture capitalists—“a management team that,” in the words of economist Dean Baker, “shows little competence and is rapidly stuffing its pockets at the company’s expense.”

Even as the company struggled, the ten top Hostess executives pocketed increasingly lavish compensation packages. The Hostess CEO who demanded some of the deepest cuts from workers engineered a 300 percent increase in his compensation package.

"The Hostess Bakery Plant shut down due to a workers' strike. It was split
up. The State Department hired all the Twinkies, the Secret Service hired all
the HoHos, the Generals are sleeping with the Cup-cakes and the voters sent
all the Ding Dongs to Congress."

Good one John! Ain't it the truth!

Donna, The Ding Dongs fit right in at Congress,- a happy ending!

: )

The decision to pay executives more during a bankruptcy shows a lack of good managerial judgement. It also follows a trend of rising ceo pay during economic difficulty. Take Caterpillar and Citigroup for example. Caterpillar froze workers pay while raising executive pay by 17 million and at Citigroup ceo Vikrim Pandit received 6.7 million to destroy the company and walked off with 260 million after the business lost 88% of its value.

Harold Jenkins of the WSJ spins another tale about the baker's unions best interest is at odds with that of the Teamsters union.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324469304578145102007752448.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Hostess even tried to sidestep bankruptcy rules by leaving the failing ceo in place.

The one creditors outlined in the warning it issued resulting in a new ceo and the 300% raise being lowered to 1.5 million while others who received inflammatory raises were lowered to pre bankruptcy levels while 4 executives salaries were lowered to 1 dollar until Hostess emerged from bankruptcy.