If you're looking for Twinkies or Ding-Dongs on your grocery shelf in the near future, you can forget it - and you can thank labor unions for making it happen.
Struggling to get out of bankruptcy, Hostess - the maker of snack foods like Twinkies, Ding-Dongs and Wonder Bread - announced the decision to close the company after negotiations over wage and benefits packages broke down and labor unions went on strike.
A news release posted on the company's strike information website explained the issues that factored into the decision to close the company, which had been in business for nearly a century:
Hostess Brands is unprofitable under its current cost structure, much of which is determined by union wages and pension costs. The offer to the BCTGM included wage, benefit and work rule concessions but also gave Hostess Brands’ 12 unions a 25 percent ownership stake in the company, representation on its Board of Directors and $100 million in reorganized Hostess Brands’ debt.
“We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike,” said Gregory F. Rayburn, chief executive officer. “Hostess Brands will move promptly to lay off most of its 18,500-member workforce and focus on selling its assets to the highest bidders.”
Getting nearly twenty thousand workers fired just in time for the holidays sounds is yet another fine example of how organized labor is looking out for the working men and women of America.
Fortunately, the company will put the name and assets up for sale, so you may see them again one day, but that's no guarantee.
We're sure Woody Harrelson won't be happy to hear there won't be any more Twinkies.
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