In short, the story goes like this. Hostess, the baking
company that makes Wonder bread, Twinkies, Ho-Hos and the like, renegotiated a
collective bargaining agreement with the Teamsters and the Bakery,
Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union. The Teamsters agreed to the new contract that
lowered wages and benefits (primarily pensions, we believe), but the BCTWGMI
workers did not, choosing to strike.
To massively truncate the story, Hostess set a deadline to
return to work or they said they would close their doors PERMANENTLY. The company is in Chapter 11 and wrestling
with $700 to $820 milion in debt depending on who you ask. Hostess says their financial problems are “primarily
due to legacy pensions and medical benefit obligations and restrictive work
rules." That said, the union claims top executives have recently received pay raises.
The BCTWGMI said 1) your bluffing, 2) there is no reason to
cut pay and benefits and 3) the only reason Hostess was in trouble was due to
mismanagement –interesting coming from a BCTWGMI that we are guessing has no experience
running a large baking corporation or any sort of big company, but we digress.
As a result, we’re screwed out of Twinkies the world’s junkiest
junk food by any stretch of anybody’s imagination, and, more importantly, 18,000 people are out of
work.
By the way, as of this midday, the union’s website had yet
to mention how they had blown the call and cost all those folks a job and as of
4pm. the page was no longer working at all – some blather about band width…
Oh, and those union guys that refused to budge? They still
have jobs with the BCTWGMI.
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