The End of the Twinkie?

This could be it. The end of the Hostess Twinkie. Of course, those still in their packages may last forever, but it’s possible there will be no more Twinkies.

The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union (BCTGM) has gone on strike against manufacturer Hostess. The company announced today they will file for liquidation if striking employees do not return to work by the end of the day. According to Hostess:

“We simply do not have the financial resources to survive an ongoing national strike,” said Gregory F. Rayburn, the Company’s Chairman and CEO. “Therefore, if sufficient employees do not return to work by 5 p.m., EST, on Thursday to restore normal operations, we will be forced to immediately move to liquidate the entire Company, which will result in the loss of nearly 18,000 jobs. It is now up to Hostess’ BCTGM represented employees and Frank Hurt, their international president, to decide if they want to call off the strike and save this Company, or cause massive financial harm to thousands of employees and their families.”

The BCTGM response claims that Hostess has had significant mismanagement from the top down claiming that the six CEO’s in the past eight years have had no bread and cake baking industry experience. According to the union website the workers and their union have ‘absolutely no responsibility for the failure of this company.’

“I am sure that our members would be agreeable to return to work as soon as the company rescinds the implementation of the horrendous wage and benefit reductions, including pension, and the restoration of the cuts that have already taken place.”

One has to wonder how much better off the Hostess workers will be filing for unemployment next week? Is no job better than a salary reduction? Across the country many industry workers have taken sizable cuts rather than losing their job. Is the union forcing workers to ‘cut off their nose to spite their face?’