ReadabilityAP: Mediation (ordered? UPDATE agreed to) in Twinkie fight
AP reports the following:
The bankruptcy judge hearing the case says that the parties haven’t gone through the critical step of mediation and asked the lawyer for the bakery’s union to ask his client, who wasn’t present, if he would agree to participate
And there are interested parties
Bimbo has already sniffed around the bankruptcy proceedings that have haunted Hostess for a decade, in a bid to further expand its North American portfolio and pad its $4 billion net worth. Bimbo reportedly put in a low-ball bid of $580 million a few years ago, Forbes reports, and may be rewarded for that move since the Hostess kit-and-kaboodle may fetch more like $135 million today.
But the big question is whether the same problems that haunted Hostess – high sugar prices tied to US trade tariffs, changing consumer tastes, and union pushback against labor concessions – will squeeze whatever profit is left in the brands.
Especially if a Mexican buyer is involved, production may go the way of the Brach’s and Fannie May candy concerns: south of the border. With US sugar tariffs set artificially high to protect Florida sugar-growing concerns, a non-unionized shop with access to lower-priced sugar in Mexico could be the Twinkie lifeline, economists suggest.
but it’s not just a question of losing the tariffs it’s losing the unions:
First, this development has no small amount of irony. The labor movement has attacked Republicans for many long years for off-shoring jobs in the name of free trade. Thanks to the bakers’ union, we may end up with almost 19,000 jobs heading south of the border, in the factories of Grupo Bimbo. The protectionist sugar tariffs that both parties have extended and championed may end up having their own ironic role in these job losses, too.
Will Twinkies survive? If we are to believe the unions then no, because it’s all about demonstrating power at least that’s what they said.
Anyway I’ve broken open a box of devil dogs but we’ll ration the Funny bones etc for now until we know for sure.
If it works out there are going to be a lot of people who spent a fortune of Twinkies to put on eBay or people who have boxes on eBay who are going to feel like fools.
Update: No answer at the local Hostess thrift shop, might be too late for them.
Update 2: Both side now have agreed to mediation, no word if that means the thrift store re-opens but got some bargains Saturday.
Hostess, its lenders and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), agreed to go into mediation at the urging of Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain of the Southern District of New York, who urged mediation rather than a more expensive, public hearing regarding the company’s liquidation.
“My desire to do this is prompted primarily by the potential loss of over 18,000 jobs as well as my belief that there is a possibility to resolve this matter,” Drain said.
Does the thrift shop return?
Update 3: The key words from the Hostess web site
PRODUCTION REMAINS SHUT DOWN.
AP reports the following:
The bankruptcy judge hearing the case says that the parties haven’t gone through the critical step of mediation and asked the lawyer for the bakery’s union to ask his client, who wasn’t present, if he would agree to participate
And there are interested parties
Bimbo has already sniffed around the bankruptcy proceedings that have haunted Hostess for a decade, in a bid to further expand its North American portfolio and pad its $4 billion net worth. Bimbo reportedly put in a low-ball bid of $580 million a few years ago, Forbes reports, and may be rewarded for that move since the Hostess kit-and-kaboodle may fetch more like $135 million today.
But the big question is whether the same problems that haunted Hostess – high sugar prices tied to US trade tariffs, changing consumer tastes, and union pushback against labor concessions – will squeeze whatever profit is left in the brands.
Especially if a Mexican buyer is involved, production may go the way of the Brach’s and Fannie May candy concerns: south of the border. With US sugar tariffs set artificially high to protect Florida sugar-growing concerns, a non-unionized shop with access to lower-priced sugar in Mexico could be the Twinkie lifeline, economists suggest.
but it’s not just a question of losing the tariffs it’s losing the unions:
First, this development has no small amount of irony. The labor movement has attacked Republicans for many long years for off-shoring jobs in the name of free trade. Thanks to the bakers’ union, we may end up with almost 19,000 jobs heading south of the border, in the factories of Grupo Bimbo. The protectionist sugar tariffs that both parties have extended and championed may end up having their own ironic role in these job losses, too.
Will Twinkies survive? If we are to believe the unions then no, because it’s all about demonstrating power at least that’s what they said.
Anyway I’ve broken open a box of devil dogs but we’ll ration the Funny bones etc for now until we know for sure.
If it works out there are going to be a lot of people who spent a fortune of Twinkies to put on eBay or people who have boxes on eBay who are going to feel like fools.
Update: No answer at the local Hostess thrift shop, might be too late for them.
Update 2: Both side now have agreed to mediation, no word if that means the thrift store re-opens but got some bargains Saturday.
Hostess, its lenders and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), agreed to go into mediation at the urging of Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain of the Southern District of New York, who urged mediation rather than a more expensive, public hearing regarding the company’s liquidation.
“My desire to do this is prompted primarily by the potential loss of over 18,000 jobs as well as my belief that there is a possibility to resolve this matter,” Drain said.
Does the thrift shop return?
Update 3: The key words from the Hostess web site
PRODUCTION REMAINS SHUT DOWN.
