Time: Time to Start Stockpiling Twinkies? Hostess in Limbo as Workers Strike [View all]

[Omaha Steve]

http://business.time.com/2012/11/15/time-to-start-stockpiling-twinkies-hostess-in-limbo-as-workers-strike/

By Martha C. WhiteNov. 15, 2012

According to the urban legend (and a few zombie movies), Twinkies can be expected to last forever. But thanks to labor issues, longstanding financial difficulties, and changing consumer preferences, Twinkie manufacturer Hostess Brands Inc. might not be quite as indestructible.

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Evan Sklar / Getty Images

The bakery company has shut three plants and laid off 627 workers following labor strikes. According to the Wall Street Journal, CEO Gregory Rayburn said on Monday that the company’s next step might be liquidation. Is Hostess, the venerable manufacturer of cakey sugary Twinkies, Suzy Q’s, and Ho Hos, doomed?

The strikes are being led by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Union. The union is protesting a labor agreement a bankruptcy judge upheld last month after 92% of members rejected it in September that would cut pay by 8% and make workers pay 20% more in health care costs.

In a statement, the union president took issue with the CEO’s assertion that the strikes were behind the closures of facilities in Cincinnati, Seattle and St. Louis, saying that Hostess had already planned to close several plants as part of its bankruptcy restructuring — the company’s second Chapter 11 filing in less than a decade.

Read more: http://business.time.com/2012/11/15/time-to-start-stockpiling-twinkies-hostess-in-limbo-as-workers-strike/#ixzz2CJezsp4s

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