Hostess, the maker of the Twinkie and Wonder Bread, has gone out of business after a nationwide strike by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. With its 18,500 workforce no longer in employment, Hostess has stated that it will be focussing on selling out their assets to the highest bidder.
The strike was the straw that broke the camel’s back and ended all chances for Hostess to survive. Although Hostess management seem to indicate that the company could have been saved if all workers returned to work by Thursday, I highly doubt that Hostess would be able to survive.
The fact that the business was retailing products in a narrowing market of people willing to buy unhealthy treats and losing sales while maintaining a very poor relationship with employees resulted in the loss of the business and loss of work for the employees of Hostess.
If there was a stronger relationship between workers and managers, could the downfall of the company been prevented? If the union was more flexible and accepted more company conditions would the company have survived? The opportunity to turn the company around was long past. I think that despite the annual sales of $2 billion dollars, the shrinking market for unhealthy snacks, the unhealthy relationship with its workforce would make it nearly impossible to save the company. How could management not see the potential for bankruptcy to do something about it earlier and equally puzzling, how could the union and workers continue to “play chicken” and risk causing the company to go bankrupt and ultimately losing all their jobs.