Just last week, I read about the death of the Twinkie and saw a photo of its funeral. A bankruptcy judge in New York tried to resurrect the Twinkie by bringing Hostess Brands and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) together for mediation, but it was too late.
Evidently, from what I could gather, the judge did not think that the union acted in good faith, having never filed a grievance to Hostess Brands in response to their offer to the union before striking. To a southern boy who doesn't have that much knowledge about unions and how the whole process works, it's just a shame that Twinkie and his friends, Ding-Dong and Ho-Ho had to be casualties of this strike.
What is even worse is that 18,500 people are without jobs. Casualties of our current economy and perhaps even unrealistic expectations of the worth of their jobs.
It is too late for Hostess Brands as we have known it for all our lives. After the Hostess Brands employees gave their eight-two year old employer the finger, Hostess basically told their employees to take a hike. The company has blamed union wages and pension costs for contributing to its unprofitability. Since last week, there has been a run on their remaining products with many reports of boxes of Twinkies being sold on ebay.com for as much as $300 per box (stupid). Already, Hostess has received or is receiving bids on the various Hostess products. I would imagine that whoever purchases Hostess or the rights to their products will not hire the 18,500 disgruntled employees.
Unfortunately, the union was unable to accept the fact that their wages and benefits will probably never equal what they did before. It is part of life in America these days. I suppose at least for the time being, the Twinkie has expired.
And for the employees of the 33 bakeries, 553 distribution centers, aproximately 5,500 delivery routes and 527 bakery outlet stores and for junk food consumers around the U.S., it will be a bleak Thanksgiving. That is a shame.
