The great Twinkie turf war

The new owners of Hostess Brands are preparing to restart the production of Twinkies, Ho Hos and all those other sugary treats. Among the plants they plan to reopen is the one in the Chicago suburb of Schiller Park.

The new owners of Hostess Brands are preparing to restart the production of Twinkies, Ho Hos and all those other sugary treats. Among the plants they plan to reopen is the one in the Chicago suburb of Schiller Park. But Hostess doesn’t plan on bringing back the old union workforce.

The union isn’t going quietly:

[T]he president of the bakers union expressed confidence that his thousands of out-of-work members would find opportunity at the Hostess facilities once they were reopened by their new owners. President David Durkee said the strike had left the union in “a position of strength,” and he expressed confidence its workers would get a better deal from the new owners than Hostess offered during the bankruptcy case, its second in recent years. 

He added that the only way for the brands to have a “seamless restart” would be to hire back unionized bakers. “Only our members know how to get that equipment running,” Mr. Durkee said. “A work force off the street will not be able to accomplish that.” 

It’s not entirely clear how running a company out of business and losing nearly all its members their jobs count as a “position of strength.” For their part, Hostess’ new management team is confident that they’ll be able to run the company without the union, probably with a mostly new workforce. The bakers union won’t give up without a fight though. This could get interesting.