I became a fan of the film Zombieland the first time I saw it. Woody Harrelson's performance as Tallahassee was memorable, especially his quest for the last Twinkie. Now thanks to a labor union, Woody may just as well start his search for that last Twinkie.
As has been well reported this weekend, Hostess Brands, makers of Twinkies, Ho-Hos, Wonder Bread and so on, will be going out of business because the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which was on strike against Hostess, would not accept any concessions. What's galling about the story is not only the fact this union represented less than a third of all the Hostess employees, but that another labor union which represents Hostess employees, the Teamsters, had accepted concessions.
I guess for this one baker's union, the fate of over 18,000 workers (including 5,000 of their members) just wasn't that important. It didn't matter, I guess, that the people running Hostess, for whatever reason, couldn't afford to keep funding the benefits of their union employees, otherwise this baker's union would've done something about trying to make sure their 5,000 members working at Hostess still have a job, let alone a job with benefits and a pension.
The matter with Hostess also underlines bigger problems, problems which lie not just with the unions, but also quite likely with government regulations and policies. In the meantime, unless they are revived by another company, it would probably be a good idea to start your own search for that last Twinkie.
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