Hostess announced Tuesday night that it failed to reach a new agreement with BCTWGM, and union officials said the company plans to proceed with shuttering its operations after 82 years in business.
18,500 workers will lose their jobs overnight, adding more grist to the grind of the jobless recovery. Today’s announcement came four days after the company announced that its liquidation, which many observers believed was all but assured by the union’s strike.
The firm filed for bankruptcy last January because its labor costs were unsustainable and that it needed to cut its wage, health and pension costs to continue operating—despite the questionable practice of paying executives gross compensation packages for an otherwise struggling company.