Obama Backing Unions Kill Twinkies UPDATE

UPDATE November 21, 2012 1:06 PM Pacific Standard Time:

Per Hostess Brands Information:

Hostess Brands Inc. announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York today approved its emergency interim motion for the orderly wind down of its business and sale of its assets.
...
For employees whose jobs will be immediately eliminated, additional information can be found at this website, which also contains a copy of the Company’s wind down motion and information for customers and vendors.

November 21, 12 12:02 AM Pacific Standard Time:
It is now official Obama backing unions killed Twinkies.


Per Hostess Brands Information:

Irving, TX – Hostess Brands Inc. announced today that a mediation today with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union was unsuccessful. The Company will have no further comment until a hearing scheduled for tomorrow at 11 a.m., EST, before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

We knew that Hostess was headed for liquidation while the media laid America's "last chance" hopes upon doomed mediation. Fellow SLOBs author Left Coast Rebel wondered "When will the federal government and the Obama Administration propose a bailout for Hostess and their 18,000 union workers?" The answer is NEVER.


Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y. will make a final determination if Hostess can shut down and liquidate. BusinessWeek reports:

Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, is asking the judge for approval to shut down 36 bakeries, 242 depots, 216 retail stores, and 311 hybrid depot-store facilities, according to court filings. There are 58 other leased or owned sites used for storage, warehousing of products or parking. The plants are in 22 states, stretching from Alaska to New Jersey.

The demise of Hostess was obvious for two reasons. First and foremost, we reported that the bakery union,

"...feared a deal would pull down wages and benefits throughout the industry, without saving Hostess."

So, we decided to enjoy our last Twinkie. Second, the bakery union is a big Obama backer. This means they are entitled progressives. Unfortunately, the bakery union is not big enough or rich enough to get an Obama bailout.

How do we know the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union is a big Obama donor. They gave $75,000 of their now 18,500 unemployed former Hostess workers' money in Obama backing political donations. That's right, they didn't spend the money on accountants or financial consultants, they spent it on Democrats elections.

Lets do a little OpenSecrets.org investigation of where the money went. Exciting stuff!!

First, who reported bakery union donations? (click to enlarge)

Where did the AFL-CIO Workers' Voices spend that money? (click to enlarge)

Total For Democrats: $3,323,379
Total Against Democrats: ($3,782)
Total For Republicans: $1,171
Total Against Republicans: $3,563,351

Where does American Bridge spend the money? (click to enlarge)

As a super PAC, American Bridge can accept unlimited donations and is largely funded by major Democratic donors and labor unions. Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros, a well-known supporter of liberal causes, is the group’s largest donor.

CREDO Mobile? Where do they spend political money? (click to enlarge)

This movement has raised more than $70 million for progressive nonprofit groups that are working on the front lines of social change.

Progressive Colorado Voters is obviously extremist left, but who is America Votes Action Fund? (click to enlarge)

Opposes Democrats: $0.00
Opposes Republicans: $44,409.84
Supports Democrats: $44,157.67
Supports Republicans: $0.00

On to President Obama's #WarOnWomen fund, Women Vote! (click to enlarge)

Electing Women for Progressive Change

Whoa, we seem to be in a loop now, but one last peek behind the lefty iron curtain, who is Majority PAC? (click to enlarge)

Majority PAC is fighting to protect the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate in 2012. 

Ok, that is enough of that. It is time to return to informing America that President Barack Obama sold weapons to Al Qaeda in Benghazi. Weapons that Ambassador Stevens was trying to get back. Weapons that are now targeting Israel.

Hostess Liquidation Gives Union "Last Chance"

Per The Wall Street Journal via Business Insider:

Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., asked attorneys representing Hostess and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International union whether mediation could help

"Moving to a liquidation is also a significant economic hit, and I think that many people, myself included, have serious questions as to the logic behind the decision to strike and a concern that it may be as a result of differences as far as information and goals," he said.
"I'm giving the union, as well as the debtors and their lenders, the last chance."

“To me not to have gone through that step leaves a huge question mark over this case, which I think–I may be wrong–but I think will only be answered in litigation. And that’s no one’s desired outcome,” the judge said.

ABC News explains why the baker's union may not budge:

After Hostess’s unions had agreed to more than $100 million in annual cost concessions during Hostess’s previous bankruptcy, the bakery union thought it made little sense to agree to further cuts. It feared a deal would pull down wages and benefits throughout the industry, without saving Hostess.

“Our consultant said the debt load on the company was too heavy, and that we would be back in bankruptcy and facing liquidation in 12 to 16 months from now, even if we took more concessions,” David B. Durkee, the union’s secretary-treasurer, said.

...

“There was this whole theory that the company was bluffing about liquidation and there was some white knight that was going to come and buy the company” Mr. Hall [of the Teamsters] said.

Now, Hostess and the bakery union will meet at the offices of the company’s lawyers. Representatives for the Teamsters and the company’s bankruptcy lenders were also invited to attend. If the two sides cannot agree, Hostess’s lawyers are expected to appear in court on Wednesday morning to seek approval of their liquidation plan.

As we heard during the presidential election, Barack Obama saved General Motors by keeping them out of judicial bankruptcy in favor of a political bankruptcy that stole money from creditors and bond holders in favor of the unions. As fellow SLOBs author Left Coast Rebel puts it,

'When will the federal government and the Obama Administration propose a bailout for Hostess and their 18,000 union workers?

If it was the "failed policies of the past" that got GM into "this mess," it must be the "failed policies of the present" that has Hostess facing liquidation. Fair is fair.