Hostess, makers of Twinkies, Wonder Bread, Sno Balls, and Ding Dongs, closed three factories permanently as a result of a workers’ strike by 30% of its workforce.
The owners of the company told the workers they were prepared to close the entire company if the workers went out on strike. Hostess is based in Texas and has 36 locations throughout the country.
“The cuts are hard to take, we know that,” said the company spokesperson, “but a prolonged strike means that our lenders will cancel their funding and the company will be liquidated.”
The members of the bakery, confectionery, tobacco, and grain millers union ignored the warnings and went out over recent cuts to wages and benefits. The company stopped paying towards pensions last year. The Teamsters truck drivers settled a contract similar to the one rejected by the BCTGM.
The company went back into bankruptcy in January for the second time in a decade and cited workers’ pensions and benefits as the reason.
Also problematic is the increased competition in the snack food world with a smaller base of customers as people become more health conscious.
The company closed their bakeries in St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Seattle as a result of losses caused by the strike.
“We deeply regret this decision, but we have repeatedly explained that we will close facilities that are no longer able to produce and deliver products because of a work stoppage — and that we will close the entire company if widespread strikes cripple our business,” Hostess Brands CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said.
Smart move unions!
If the company survives the bankruptcy, they will expand into organic bread products.
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