Cross-posted from The Apollo Report
Hostess Brands is now slated to have Twinkies and other items back on the shelves later this year, however, the New Hostess won't hire the union workers which the Old Hostess falsely blamed for its demise.
Kevin Cramer, the executive vice president of the New Hostess, admitted to blacklisting union workers, saying, "We're sure not going to invite the unions in. We don't have to do it."
If you're wondering why the Old Hostess went belly-up in the first place, you can blame vulture capitalism:
Hostess’s failure was compounded by having six CEO’s in 8 years who had no experience in the bread or cake baking industry, and despite their financial woes, the company’s CEO got a 300% salary increase from $750,000 to $2,250,000, and other top executives received raises worth hundreds-of-thousands of dollars; all while the company was struggling. Instead of acknowledging the lack of competent leadership and exorbitant executive salaries as contributing to the company’s decision to close its doors, CEO Gregory Rayburn issued a statement saying, “We deeply regret the necessity of today’s decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike.” However, Rayburn and Hostess management claimed the strike would be responsible for closing plants even before there was a strike, and they had made plans to close plants whether or not workers accepted the Draconian wage and benefit cuts the company offered, or if they went on strike.
Hostess workers previously made numerous concessions to keep the company afloat, but they were not enough for the company’s management so they stopped making contractually-obligated contributions to employee’s pensions to save money. The employees stayed on the job until management offered a new contract cutting wages and benefits an extra 27 – 32 percent that prompted employees to strike and thus become scapegoats for Hostess’s demise. What Hostess failed to tell the public is that plans were in the works to close plants months before offering to slash workers’ wages. According to the company’s 1113 bankruptcy court filing earlier this year, they planned to close at least nine bakeries as part of its reorganization plan in addition to the three bakeries that were to be closed as a result of the company’s planned sale of its Merita division. In a November article, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said, “I was told months ago they were planning on closing the site in St. Louis, and there was no indication at that time it had anything to do with the strike the workers were waging.”
Sadly, this is not at all surprising, given the fact that the anti-worker culture in this country is far too prevalent. As a result, I'm standing up for the workers who were falsely accused of the demise of the Old Hostess by boycotting the New Hostess.
Join my movement to Boycott The New Hostess Brands!