Hello everybody!   
      
   From the WSJ comments section - long, but worth the read:   
      
   12:10 am November 13, 2012   
   St Louis wrote :   
      
   Unions are not what is wrong with Hostess. Management is what is wrong. My   
   husband has worked for WonderBread for 13 years. Explain to me how 4 mgrs for   
   5 employees makes sense? Tell me how the company goes into bankruptcy but can   
   pay someone $1 million to "fix" the company. Those that are not involved with   
   the company can say anything. Its always the Unions fault. If you only knew   
   what was really going on within that company.This statement is exactly what   
   has happened. St Louis has been rumored to close for at least 3 yrs now. I   
   would like to see you go to work tomorrow and say OK to any paycut. At some   
   point you have to stick up for yourself.   
      
   I am a Hostess employee. Hostess stopped our pension contributions a yr & a   
   half ago. Then they gave the top execs pay raises of 30-80%. They offered new   
   contracts: no pension payments (no retirement plan at all for union employees,   
   but company management still gets contributions to their retirement plans) for   
   another 2 & 1/2 yrs, and then a 75% reduction in pension when they do start   
   paying into it again; we have to pay an ADDITIONAL $200/ mo for health   
   insurance; They took away our last cost of living raise; they gave us an 8%   
   wage cut on top of that; they are outsourcing all of the office work to   
   Manilla; they are closing 12 plants. THIS WAS ALL PART OF THE CONTRACT THAT   
   WENT INTO EFFECT LAST MONTH!!   
      
   The 3 bakery closures were not due to the labor strike, they were locations on   
   the closure list. Hostess used the opportunity provided by the strike to close   
   them w/o having to pay severance or give notice. Hostess will be closing more   
   plants whether the strike is resolved or not. We were told that if both major   
   unions did not accept the new contracts, Hostess would IMMEDIATELY liquidate   
   and we would all lose our jobs. Teamsters accepted (barely), Bakers did not.   
   Hostess didnt liquidate. We were told that if there was any kind of a strike,   
   Hostess would IMMEDIATELY liquidate & we would lose our jobs. Bakers went on   
   strike, Hostess didnt liquidate. The Seattle bakery was literally 100 years   
   old. They have been talking about closing it for years. Of the 3 plants   
   closed- the only one on official strike was Seattle. St. Louis & Cincinnati   
   were not on strike.   
      
   Its frustrating for Hostess employees working their butts off and taking all   
   these cuts, to still see Management driving luxury rental cars, flying all   
   over the county at $1,000/ ticket, having meetings in Vegas, spending $200/   
   night on hotels, $75 on ONE meal for ONE person, golf tournaments at   
   $1,000/ea, throwing away MASSIVE amounts of product because they dont do their   
   jobs right, the list goes on.   
      
   We keep taking cuts and they keep wasting money. We took cuts a few yrs ago   
   (during the LAST bankruptcy) and the money was supposed to be used to update   
   equipment, facilities, 50 yr old route trucks; new product development, etc.   
   None of that ever happened. They wasted the money and then came back to us for   
   more. Where are their cuts and sacrifices? I wish people out there would   
   realize whats going on. 6 CEOs in the past few yrs?? Doesnt anyone see whats   
   wrong w/ this picture? Theres no one there anymore who truly cares about this   
   company. Its nobodys baby. Nobody w/ the power to make decisions loves it.   
   They just care about the money. Its heartbreaking. I dont blame any of the   
   employees for finally saying theyve had enough.   
   [blogs.wsj.com]   
      
   Matt   
      
      
      
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