Friday could very well go down in history as the death knell for an 82-year-old Chicago-born American classic snack cake: The Twinkie.
Hostess Brands, Texas-based maker of Twinkies and a number of other snack foods, announced Friday that, on the heels of a nationwide worker strike, it will be going out of business, closing its production plants and laying off the vast majority of its 18,500 employees nationwide. As for the Twinkie brand? It will be going up for sale.
Three of the company’s plants — including one in St. Louis — closed earlier this week as workers went on strike in response to wage cuts and new limitations in worker participation in pension plans. Now, 1,415 workers at the company’s three Illinois bakeries — in Schiller Park, Hodgkins and Peoria — are losing their jobs, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
SDD
Twinkies are toast. Done deal as of this morning. http://online.wsj.com/home-page?mod=djemalertNEWS
I distinctly remember my first encounter with this type of suicidal union. I attended a rally of the Chicago Truck Drivers Union (sort of a Teamsters offshoot). They organized Jewel Food stores warehouse and distribution employees. I listened to the president of the union rant that he would “put Jewel out of business”, for which he was cheered loudly by union members.
We live in an Orwellian world.
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