There's nothing sweet about Hostess's success for ex-workers

Almost three years ago, just before Thanksgiving, Hostess Brand executives threw their then 18,000 union workers under the bus by blaming them for the need to declare bankruptcy. The move put these Teamsters and other union members out of a job. But now, the company's new venture capitalists owners are borrowing more than $900 million to give their shareholders a slap on the back for a job well done.

Apollo Global Management LLC and Metropoulos & Co. acquired the maker of Twinkies from liquidation in 2013 for $410 million. Since then, freed from the burden of providing fair wages and a pension, the new ownership has flourished. In fact, it turned down an offer to sell the new Hostess for $1.6 billion earlier this year and is still mulling taking the company public instead.

It's all quite a turn of events for a company that saddled its poor business decisions on its workforce and blamed it for its failures even though it repeatedly couldn't reduce its debt during previous bankruptcy efforts. It is emblematic of the current culture where the rich get richer and workers get screwed.

But are the current owners making the same mistake as the previous ones? As Bloomberg stated:

For Hostess, the deal will triple debt levels to about six times a measure of earnings, according to an S&P report this month. Regulators including the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in their 2013 leveraged lending guidance that debt levels exceeding six times raise concern as they seek to curb risky underwriting.

Of course, given that Apollo and Metropoulos are only looking to maximize profits, they probably don't care about these issues. They want the money. It's a real problem in the private sector today -- short-term profit over fiscal longevity and a concern for workers who help put a company in the black.

Hostess's current bosses should be wise to the mistakes of their predecessors. Workers shouldn't be getting the short end of the stick.

Today's Teamster News 11.13.14

Teamster News
Trade Agreement Could Cost Michigan Jobs (opinion)  Detroit News   ...A lame-duck session of Congress convenes this week, and Capitol Hill lawmakers could consider fast-track trade promotion authority in the coming weeks that would jeopardize thousands of jobs in Michigan and nationwide...
Twinkie Maker’s Success Story Tempting Entenmann’s  New York Post   ...Members of Teamsters Local 802, which represents roughly 300 Entenmann’s drivers in New York and northern New Jersey, are preparing for the worst and have authorized union leaders to call a strike...
NetJets Threatens To Fire Middle Class Workers On Behalf Of The Global Super-Rich  teamster.org   ...Berkshire Hathaway’s [BRK/B] NetJets, Inc. is threatening to fire workers over the International Brotherhood of Teamsters decision to publicize the names of wealthy customers who stand to benefit from the company’s attack on the wages, benefits and working conditions of middle class employees...
Sysco Doesn’t Expect US Foods Deal to Close This Year  Wall Street Journal   ...Sysco Corp. , the nation’s biggest food distributor by sales, again pushed back the timeline for completing its acquisition of rival US Foods Inc., saying talks with antitrust regulators are taking longer than expected...
Sysco Expands; Buys Pacific Star Foodservice In Mexico  Zacks   ...this leading foodservice distributor of North America is rapidly expanding in Latin America. Apart from Latin America, Sysco has expanded in Canada, Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Bahamas....
Trade
House Dems say trade bills have no chance of passing  The Hill   ...A trio of House Democrats said Wednesday that neither fast-track nor an Asia-Pacific trade deal have any chance of passing in the lame-duck session or in the next Congress...
China Suspected Of Breaching U.S. Postal Service Computer Networks  Washington Post   ...Chinese government hackers are suspected of breaching the computer networks of the United States Postal Service, compromising the data of more than 800,000 employees — including the postmaster general’s...
State Battles
Appeals court upholds conviction of Kelly Rindfleisch, former aide to Scott Walker  Wisconsin State Journal   ...Rindfleisch, 46, was sentenced to six months in jail with work release privileges and three years of probation for doing campaign work on county time, but that sentence was stayed pending appeal...
State Street, Governor Elect Rauner Both Implicated in Pay-to-Play Scandals  naked capitalism   ... Illinois governor elect Bruce Rauner, who comes out of the private equity industry, took over $140,000 in campaign contributions from executives at funds that manage state money, which violates state and federal laws, since Rauner will be appointing pension system trustees...
Detroit Emerges From Bankruptcy, Yet Pension Risks Linger  New York Times   ...foundations, the state of Michigan, the Detroit Institute of Arts and even the city’s water and sewer system have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to bolster the municipal pension system and give the art collection new, bankruptcy-proof ownership. In return, retired workers accepted reductions to their monthly checks and other cutbacks...
War on Workers
Jobs Growth Far from Strong: It Will Be 2018 Before the Economy Looks like 2007  Economic Policy Institute   ...if we extrapolate this rate of jobs growth into the future, it will be 2018 before we return to a labor market resembling the one we had before the recession began...
FedEx Pilots Picket for 'Respect'  WIBC   ...Dozens of pilots descended on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis Wednesday.  They're among some 800 picketing pilots across the nation.  They're represented by the Air Line Pilots Association. They say they've been in contract talks for nearly four years with FedEx...
Apple’s iTunes earnings mostly untaxed  Australian Financial Review   ...More than two-thirds of the money Apple’s iTunes makes outside North America goes through the group’s Luxembourg holding company where it is not taxable, thanks to an intra-group fees agreement signed in 2008...
Banks Reach Settlement In Foreign-Exchange Probe  Wall Street Journal   ...Six banks agreed Wednesday to pay a total of about $4.2 billion to U.S., British and Swiss regulators to resolve allegations that for years they worked together to try to manipulate the vast foreign-exchange market to boost their profits...
Dad’s Disbelief Over Son’s Missing Shows Mexico Reeling  Bloomberg   ...“It’s impossible for me to believe that they just made 43 students disappear,” Gonzalez, 49, said on Nov. 3 as he looked out over fields at Cesar’s school in the town of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero. “The worst thing,” he said, tears filling his eyes, “is knowing it wasn’t organized crime that instigated this -- this was our own government...”
In Bolivia, A Child's Place Is In The Market And The Mines  NPR   ...In the Bolivian city of El Alto on a recent day, youngsters shout out the destinations of departing buses to lure passengers. One of these barkers is 15-year-old Luis Canaza. He earns about 12 cents for every bus he fills...
Uzbekistan: Forced To Labor In Cotton Fields, Students Rebel  EruAsiaNet   ...Third-year male journalism students were ordered to the cotton fields by the rector and faculty deacon, says the letter. It is addressed to Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev; the prosecutor’s office; the National Security Service (SNB); the Higher Education Ministry; and the university rector, Mirzo Mukhamedov...
Construction Worker Killed In Warwick’s Apponaug Section  WPRI   ...An unidentified man from Fall River died early Wednesday morning after a large piece of equipment fell on him at a construction site in Apponaug...
Private sanitation worker killed by falling dumpster at Staten Island golf course  Staten Island Advance   ...A private sanitation worker was killed when a dumpster fell and struck him outside the Richmond County Country Club in Dongan Hills Wednesday night, police said...
Miscellaneous
Dan Sullivan Beats Mark Begich In Alaska  Politico   ...Republican Dan Sullivan has won the Alaska Senate race, ousting Democratic incumbent Mark Begich, according to The Associated Press, which called the race for Sullivan late Tuesday night following the first day of counting early and absentee ballots...

Today's Teamster News 06.25.13

American factory exec says he's being held hostage by scores of angry workers in Beijing  Associated Press   ...An American executive said Monday he has been held hostage for four days at his medical supply plant in Beijing by scores of workers demanding severance packages like those given to 30 co-workers in a phased-out department...
76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck  CNN Money   ...Fewer than one in four Americans have enough money in their savings account to cover at least six months of expenses, enough to help cushion the blow of a job loss, medical emergency or some other unexpected event, according to the survey of 1,000 adults. Meanwhile, 50% of those surveyed have less than a three-month cushion and 27% had no savings at all...
U.S. Surveillance Is Not Aimed at Terrorists  Bloomberg   ...monitoring phone calls is hardly the way to catch terrorists. They’re generally not dumb enough to use Verizon...
Court makes it harder to sue businesses  Associated Press   ...The court's conservatives, in two 5-4 decisions, ruled that a person must be able to hire and fire someone to be considered a supervisor in discrimination lawsuits, making it harder to blame a business for a co-worker's racism or sexism. The court then decided to limit how juries can decide retaliation lawsuits...
Supreme Court to decide whether union-business agreement valid  The Republic   ...The Supreme Court will decide whether a business and a union's agreement is valid after the business helped the union organize in return for help with a ballot initiative...
Lawmakers want to stop government from buying USA flags from China   Daily Caller   ...Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are renewing a push to stop the federal government from buying and flying American flags made outside the country...
They’re not telling us all of it  Trade Reform   ...I met with 22 Congressional offices last week.  None of them had seen the TPP language...
Rising middle class fuels Brazil's protests  Forbes   ... in the protests that have gripped Brazil since last week, regional experts say economic growth is actually feeding discontent, as a rising middle class puts demands on social services such as education and transportation that the government has failed to meet...
7-Eleven convenience stores raided as part of US probe  Associated Press ...Federal authorities say they’ve raided 7-Eleven convenience stores in two US states as part of a probe into human smuggling, identity theft and money laundering...
McDonald's pay practice scrutinized by federal authorities  Citizens’ Voice   ...As a lawsuit against a local McDonald's franchise gains national attention, federal authorities are investigating the company's practice of forcing employees to be paid only by debit cards that come with an assortment of fees...
Twinkies Set to Make 'Sweetest Comeback' in July  ABC News   ...Hostess is now owned by the private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co...
Wearing a mask at a riot is now a crime  CBC News   ...A bill that bans the wearing of masks during a riot or unlawful assembly and carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence with a conviction of the offence became law today (in Canada)...
Tennessee Ends $40 Million in Child Allowances for Unemployed   Associated Press   ...The state is notifying Tennesseans drawing unemployment benefits that they will soon lose a weekly $15-per-child allowance as part of a new law signed by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam...
State of Ohio skips union, picks private food service  Columbus Dispatch   ...A Philadelphia mega-company that provides food and beverage service at ballparks, national parks, hospitals and schools nationwide has been picked to provide private food service for Ohio prisons...
Alaska minimum wage hike plan gets go-ahead   Associated Press ...The organizers of a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in Alaska have been given the go-ahead to begin collecting signature, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell said Monday....
Montana will prosper with equal pay for equal work  (opinion)  Billings Gazette   ...Fifty years after President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, American women earn, on average, 77 percent of what their male counterparts do. In Montana, women are earning only 67 percent for doing the same work, putting Montana in 39th place for pay equity...
Indiana gives BP a pass on mercury  Chicago Tribune   ...Under the terms of an earlier decision by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the BP refinery can legally discharge an annual average of 23.1 parts per trillion of mercury — nearly 20 times the federal water quality standard...
Indiana grain elevator blast kills 1 worker  Associated Press   ...An explosion Monday inside a grain elevator killed a worker at a sprawling northwestern Indiana farm co-op, authorities said...
Teamster UPS Vote  IBT   ...National Master Contract 34037 (Y) 29576 (N)...
Teamster UPS Freight Returns  IBT   ...1897 (Y) 4244 (N)...
Pepsi Plant Employees Reject Contract Offer  Associated Press   ...Employees at the Pepsi Beverage plant in Huntington, who are members of Teamsters Local 175, have unanimously rejected a contract offer they claim would erode their current benefits...
Carteret firm's truckers to vote Friday on joining Teamsters union  NJ.com   ...Friday’s vote, which follows a contentious unionization campaign, involves 112 short and long-haul drivers and support workers for Toll Global Forwarding...
Listen To The Rick Smith Show’s Broadcasts From His People’s Tour Of America  IBT   ...The Teamsters are supporting Brother Rick Smith as he takes his labor radio show from his home in Harrisburg, Pa. on a cross-country tour from June 11 to July 5. On the way, he is meeting with union leaders and workers about the state of the American labor movement and the challenges facing the middle class. Come back to this page daily to hear the latest from his road travels...