Hostess, the makers of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, is going out of business after striking workers failed to heed a Thursday deadline to return to work, the company said.
“We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike,” Hostess CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said in announcing that the firm had filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to shutter its business. “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.”
Hostess Brands Inc. had earlier warned employees that it would file to unwind its business and sell off assets if plant operations didn’t return to normal levels by 5 p.m. Thursday. In announcing its decision, Hostess said its wind down would mean the closure of 33 bakeries, 565 distribution centers, approximately 5,500 delivery routes and 570 bakery outlet stores in the United States.
Hostess suspended bakery operations at all its factories and said its stores will remain open for several days to sell already-baked products.
The Irving, Texas-based company had already reached a contract agreement with its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. But thousands of members in its second-biggest union went on strike late last week after rejecting in September a contract offer that cut wages and benefits. Officials for the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union say the company stopped contributing to workers’ pensions last year.
By soupmastergeneral (Creative Commons)
Please share this post with your friends and comment below. If you haven’t already, take a moment to sign up for our free newsletter above and friend us on Twitter and Facebook to get real time updates.
Follow @WestJournalism
Loading ...
And the reason that the wages and benefits were cut was because Obama keeps on taxin’ and taxin’ and taxin’ businesses as if they are the golden goose that constantly lays the golden eggs. When are you union thugs going to realize that you cannot just constantly keep taxing and regulating businesses just because some whiney lazy faction of America wants free condoms and wants the government to pay for it out of the taxes they steal from productive businessmen?
You are so right IrishEddie…This is what happens when unions take control. The sad part of this is that I am a retired member of this union Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, but that was long before it had grown to the size it is now. It was a pretty good union at one time when it was just the bakers union, but now it has incorporated the other entities, and has grown so big, and is just like all unions, out for power.
I feel sorry for the workers who are going to get laid off, but Hostess had no choice.
The unions are never WRONG they get their talking points from the WH and fearless Comrade Leader Obama. Hope they enjoy living on Unemployment and finding another Job since they are every where now.
BUT the unions proved their point!
If more industries would follow Hostesses lead maybe we could get rid of the unions once and for all. If it were my company and the union thugs tried to tell me how to run it and constantly picketed for more and more, I’d shut it down and let them figure out what to do with all the members that are now out of work and not paying dues. It wouldn’t be very darn long before the workers realized the unions for what they are, just a bunch of thugs and parasites to the worker sucking off the workers labors.
Basic lesson of life: Big unions ultimately result in unemployment—-except government unions, which result in instability in the country.
Used to be a glass-bottom boat that plied the waters between Los Angeles and Catalina island….for years everyone was happy…now the union said to the owner, ‘you can’t possibly run this boat with such a meager crew….you’re going to have to add members’. The owner (Stillwell, I believe) said, ‘REALLY?’. All crew members lost their jobs and the boat sat idle for years.
What just happened to Hostess, will happen to many other companies once Obama=Care and his idiotic tax increases kick in. The Union’s will help to destroy America, they sure did a job on California, thanks to governor Jerry Brown in his first term he empowered the Union’s and now he is raising taxes on the wealthy. Californian’s with means will leave the state in droves and all of the illegals with soon runout of their food stamps and other financial assistant programs that the Commander in Chief gave them.
I read that someone says the Unions get their points from the WH. I personally think that is just backwards. The Unions are loosing their grip on this country so they are going for forced compliance. I am not against Unions and have been a Union member but once the leadership is ranked above and outside the facilities they control they are criminals. Why was GM drowning – Unions and years of dam poor management. It is like all the folks that voted to retain our unqualified President. The money runs out eventually and, sorry, you are screwed!
KARMA – what comes around, goes around. These libtards lefty dingbats can now reap what they sow.
I think it should be a mandatory question for new hires of their political affiliation, this will inform the employer who is clearly qualified and who is not qualified for the job. Just can’t fix stupid, no matter how much training.
Good job Unions, liberals and Obama (Mr. you didn’t build that) – Hostess will close up shop here in America and re open in another Country where they don’t have to deal with the greedy American unions or the liberals wanting freebies for nothing in return and get out of Obama’s taxmeggedan with Obama care and EPA over regulation.
Not to worry though Americans, you won’t have to lose no weight, 74% of you Americans will be able to remain obese because they will import their twinkies into the Country. Only thing you will lose is your job, but there again not to worry. Obama will give you foodstamps, obama phone, free healthcare, free condoms and free abortions and you’ll never have to get off the couch. Life is good huh? till April 15th comes around and you find you owe the IRS thousands of dollars for your Obamacare tax or(penalty) you can’t pay for and you have to pay compounded interest. Eventually, the welfare kitty will run dry when more business’s follow suite and either close shop or relocate overseas.
You liberals tried to claim Romney was bad about sending jobs overseas, lets see how many go over the next 2 yrs as Obamacare and the EPA mandates kick in.
In a business perspective, I don’t blame companies for relocating overseas where they can operate without over reaching and over regulating Governments with greedy lazy Americans holding their hand out wanting “something for nothing” mentality.