# The end of the Twinkie? Strike threatens Hostess **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 19, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249 "2012-04-19T05:24:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/61 "2012-11-16T16:38:52Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I don’t know much about this other than what’s [here](http://www.seattlepi.com/news/texas/article/Hostess-moves-to-liquidate-after-crippling-strike-4043395.php) but it looks like those 18,000 workers may have had a hand in cooking their own goose. > > \*Hostess Brands Inc. says it’s going out of business after striking workers across the country crippled its ability to make its Twinkies, Ding Dongs and other snacks. > > The company had warned employees that it would file a motion with U.S. Bankruptcy Court Friday seeking permission to shutter its operations and sell its brands if plants hadn’t resumed normal operations by a Thursday evening deadline. The deadline passed without a deal.\* > > Bad news and bad timing all the way around. Sure, the cripplingly-bad management had nothing to do with it. And yet somehow I suspect the top brass will do just fine as the company shutters. (And have been doing just fine all along.) [ > [@](#): > > In March 2012, Brian Driscoll resigned from his position as CEO. Gregory Rayburn, who had been hired and named Chief Restructuring Officer only nine days earlier, assumed the leadership position. Fortune reported that unions within the organization had been unhappy with Driscoll’s proposed compensation package of $1.5 million, plus cash incentives and a $1.95 million “long term compensation” package. Additionally, the court had discovered that Hostess executives had received raises of up to 80% the year prior. In an effort to restore relations, Rayburn cut the salaries of the four top Hostess executives to $1, to be restored on January 1 the following year. ]([Hostess Brands - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostess_Brands)) A-yup. And somehow I doubt those poor souls really have had to endure on only a dollar this whole year. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/62 "2012-11-16T16:50:52Z")
Well looks like the bakers union wanted to play chicken and lost. Sorry but the bakers union is a bunch of dumb asses. If a company has no money to pay you there is no sense in holding out. Once it became clear that the company was truly going to shut down if the union didn’t come to its senses they should have relented and taken the pay cut. Instead 18000 people lose their jobs. An article I read also said that even if other companies snatch up the brand names and start cranking them out again these people will not get their jobs back due to over saturation across the industry. I feel sorry for the workers but not for the union brains that shit the bed on this one. Sometimes you have to take what you can get and not push. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/63 "2012-11-16T17:09:06Z")
Note that Hostess was done for regardless of unions. This is a doomed company. The last straw was not the big straw. It had failed to keep up for decades. Bankruptcy #1 in 2004. Over 3 years to come out of that. And then bankruptcy #2 just a few years after that. “Bimbos Twinkies” just strikes me as … wrong. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/64 "2012-11-16T17:20:15Z")
But bimbos and twinks _belong_ together! ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/65 "2012-11-16T17:24:31Z")
Looks like the union showed those managers what’s what. And actually, it was only the bakers’ union, which makes up less than a third of those 18,500 employees. The Teamsters actually agreed to the latest concessions and urged the bakers’ union to do the same based on their review of the company’s financial situation. > [@](#): > > “Unfortunately, the company’s operating and financial problems were so severe that it required steep concessions from a variety of stakeholders but not all stakeholders were willing to be constructive,” said Ken Hall, the Teamsters’ Secretary-Treasurer. “Teamster Hostess members, based on the facts and advice from respected restructuring advisors, understood what was at stake and voted to protect all jobs at Hostess.” > **[Hostess Brands closing for good due to bakers strike](https://money.cnn.com/2012/11/16/news/companies/hostess-closing/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)** > > Hostess, maker of Twinkies, Wonder Bread and Ding Dongs, says strike by bakers forcing its closing. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/66 "2012-11-16T17:30:38Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Well looks like the bakers union wanted to play chicken and lost. Sorry but the bakers union is a bunch of dumb asses. If a company has no money to pay you there is no sense in holding out. Once it became clear that the company was truly going to shut down if the union didn’t come to its senses they should have relented and taken the pay cut. Instead 18000 people lose their jobs. > > An article I read also said that even if other companies snatch up the brand names and start cranking them out again these people will not get their jobs back due to over saturation across the industry. > > I feel sorry for the workers but not for the union brains that shit the bed on this one. Sometimes you have to take what you can get and not push. I agree that the union tried to play chicken and lost. But if the industry was oversaturated, something was going to have to give no matter what happened. And given that Hostess has been having all sorts of problems, it’s a fair bet that all that would have happened would be they’d eke out maybe a year or two more of operation and then would have had to shut down anyway. I’m not sure that’s any better than the current resolution. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/67 "2012-11-16T17:34:13Z")
I never could understand the popularity of Little Debbie. Nothing but pure sugar with no other flavor. Hostess Chocolate Creme-filled Cupcakes are still in the running for the best cupcake in the world, even with the explosion of cupcake stores. Suzy-Qs were vastly underrated (as Twinkies were overrated) and the fruit pies were what McDonald’s aspired to be with their pies. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/68 "2012-11-16T17:35:37Z")
Hostess owns Drake’s??? OMG- I won’t miss Twinkies a bit, but no Ring Dings? No Yodels? No Yankee Doodles? THAT cannot stand! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/69 "2012-11-16T17:39:26Z")
> [@Astral\_Rejection](#): > > You saw the guy above who thought twinkies were edible plastic, right? Are you also planning on discrediting the urban legends that they’re useful for defeating supervillains? ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/70 "2012-11-16T17:48:43Z")
“Silly customer, you cannot hurt a Twinkie!” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/71 "2012-11-16T17:52:04Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > One of my guilty pleasures is (was) the blackberry pie. That one is not available in the east (where I now live), but I’d usually have one on my trips back home. The strawberry pie was proof that God exists. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/72 "2012-11-16T18:10:35Z")
> [@Cubsfan](#): > > Well looks like the bakers union wanted to play chicken and lost. Sorry but the bakers union is a bunch of dumb asses. If a company has no money to pay you there is no sense in holding out. Once it became clear that the company was truly going to shut down if the union didn’t come to its senses they should have relented and taken the pay cut. Instead 18000 people lose their jobs. > > An article I read also said that even if other companies snatch up the brand names and start cranking them out again these people will not get their jobs back due to over saturation across the industry. > > I feel sorry for the workers but not for the union brains that shit the bed on this one. Sometimes you have to take what you can get and not push. I’m wordering if maybe the national leaders of the bakers union pushed the local chapter to reject compromise, knowing full well that the Hostess workers would get screwed, because they don’t want the union to appear weak, or some crap like that. Compare this to the auto industry bankruptcies a couple of years ago. The United Auto Workers union realized that if they didn’t get serious, both General Motors and Chrysler would collapse and everybody would be screwed, with Ford following after them in another year or two. So they played ball with the companies and came to a solution that, while not “good,” was a hell of a lot better than the alternative. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/73 "2012-11-16T18:27:13Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > They’ve gone through bankruptcy twice in the past decade, they’ve had, IIRC, 6 CEOs in the past 9 years, and they’re currently owned by a group of investment firms. From what I’ve read, this was not the first time that they’d gone to the unions looking for concessions. To what extent they simply didn’t have a viable business model, versus union intractability, managerial incompetence or the ownership just trying to milk the company for money, I don’t know. Is one of them Bain Capital? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/74 "2012-11-16T18:37:54Z")
[Hostess Brands are closed, effective immediately](http://hostessbrands.com/Closing.aspx). No more Twinkies, SuzyQs, Cupcakes, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, etc. It’s been probably 35 years since I had my last Twinkie. This morning, I bought my last box of Twinkies and SuzyQs (for me) and 100-calorie cupcakes (for my wife). Yes, they are decadent and not very healthy. We don’t need them. However, we will morn their loss and our childhood memories with hot chocolate tonight, and probably for the next several months, as we toast each last bite. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/75 "2012-11-16T18:39:07Z")
Duplicate X 2 thread. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/76 "2012-11-16T18:46:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Duplicate X 2 thread. You can never have enough Twinkies. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/77 "2012-11-16T18:51:38Z")
Aww, man. The Hostess store is a relic of my childhood hometown. Now what am I going to reminisce about when I’m careening half-blindly through the streets in my oldperson-mobile?? ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/78 "2012-11-16T18:54:53Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I agree that the union tried to play chicken and lost. But if the industry was oversaturated, something was going to have to give no matter what happened. And given that Hostess has been having all sorts of problems, it’s a fair bet that all that would have happened would be they’d eke out maybe a year or two more of operation and then would have had to shut down anyway. I’m not sure that’s any better than the current resolution. A year or two more of employment and paychecks are better for the employees. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/79 "2012-11-16T18:57:53Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Is one of them Bain Capital? Not clear (though the thought crossed my mind), but I kind of doubt it – given the publicity around Bain during Romney’s presidential bid, if they’d been involved in this, I’d have to think that the press would have mentioned it. Firms which I’ve seen named in news articles are Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital, both of which are described as “hedge funds”, but it doesn’t sound like they are the only investment groups with ownership stakes in Hostess. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249/80 "2012-11-16T19:05:54Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > Twinkies are like heroin. If you can’t make a profit selling them you are doing something wrong. I’m sure they make a profit on their marquee items like Twinkies, Wonder Bread, Ho-Hos, etc… but I suspect that a lot of those brands on **SirRay’s** list are the millstones around their neck. What’ll happen is one of a few things- they’ll restructure somehow and be back in business, someone will buy them outright and they’ll be back in business, or they’ll be liquidated, and the corpse will be dismembered, and someone like Bimbo or Nabisco will end up with the Twinkie recipe and trademarks, and start producing them in their own factories. Rest assured, the worst that is likely to happen is that there’ll be a brief scarcity of Twinkies while someone else ramps up to produce them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-end-of-the-twinkie-strike-threatens-hostess/619249.md?page=5)