EUR This N That | Urban Black News Blog

Hostess has just laid off more than 18,000 people in their liquidation and bankruptcy of their near 90-year old company, yet  it appears that SOME made out like fat rats in the deal.

Speaking of rats, Hostess executives will receive bonuses because they claim that they did a good job “meeting certain budget goals during the liquidation,” according to the Associated Press. The bonuses for 19 of these execs total $1.8 million and it does not include the compensation for the CEO.

Gregory Rayburn was brought on as a “restructuring expert” earlier this year and he is being paid (drum roll here) a staggering $125,000 a month.  REALLY?! Are these people really serious.  Let us break it down for you in case you’re wondering why we don’t agree.

Reasons why Hostess is on our “Shizzle List”:

• they were approved to immediately fire 15,000 union workers, giving the reasoning as ”terminations were necessary to free up workers to apply for unemployment benefits.” What?
• about 3,200 employees are being retained to help in winding down operations, including 237 employees at the corporate level.
• the current management “has been woefully unsuccessful in its reorganization attempts”, yet they just gave bonuses for meeting budget goals?
• Hostess stopped contributing to its union pension plans more than a year ago.
• no longer able to pay retiree benefits, which come to about $1.1 million a month.

Now Hostess is already in talks with over 100 potential buyers for their brands.  C’MON SON! Bring some folks back to work.  They would much rather collect a check for their work than draw unemployment.

Read more here.

-J.C. Brooks