Hostess Brands Inc. has asked for the US court’s permission to liquidate its assets. This decision was made after a nation-wide workers strike has been taking its toll on the company. Hostess Brands Inc. was best known for its delicious snack cake, the Twinkie.
Workers at the company have been very unhappy for a long time, and recently have taken to the picket lines to protest low wages, company instability, and poor working conditions. The company warned its workers that if they did not go back to work soon, it would close all stores and fire most of its 82,500 employees.
The Canadian owned companies that own the rights to Hostess’ Twinkie and Wonderbread brands have said that it will be business as usual, as neither is interested in acquiring the US based company. These companies already make their own versions of the products that Hostess offers.
This article was particularly interesting to me, as it showed that a workers strike can have extremely negative effects on the workers themselves. They went on strike for higher wages, and ended up losing their jobs in the process. The company will only need 3,500 employees to start the liquidation process, and 200 after six months. Most of the 82,500 people will be out of work, and maybe won’t be so quick to jump to a strike if their next job has problems to sort out.