Hostess Bakers Union: We Reject Your Latest Offer. Hostess Final Offer: Then We're Closing Up And You'll Get Nothing. Bakers Union: Good! Wait, What?

18,500 people are going to lose their jobs because one union decided that they thought it was possible to get blood from a stone.

"We deeply regret the necessity of today's decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike," said CEO Gregory Rayburn in a statement.

Hostess will move to sell its assets to the highest bidder. That could mean new life for some of its most popular products, which could be scooped up at auction and attached to products from other companies.

A letter that Hostess sent to its network of stores that carry its product said it expects "there will be great interest in our brands." But it said it could not give a time frame for when the sales would take place and its products would be available again.

But even if those brands are bought and restarted, the Hostess workers will not get their jobs back.

"The industry has overcapacity. We're overcapacity. Our rivals are overcapacity," said Rayburn in an interview on CNBC. Asked if the shutdown decision could be reversed if the Bakers' union agreed to immediately return to work, he responded, "Too late."

If feel bad for the workers who weren't part of the idiotic bakers union but have zero sympathy for the idiots who were. Hostess was already in bankruptcy, they were out of money, broke, finished. They had a plan to try and claw their way back and the bakers said, "no".

What was Hostess offering?

The concessions, which affect both the bakery union and Teamsters, call for cuts in wages and benefits of 27 percent to 32 percent over the five-year contract, with an immediate wage cut of 8 percent, the bakery union said. The company stopped contributing to workers' pensions last year.

The bakery union represents about 5,680 Hostess workers, about 30 percent of Hostess' total work force.

Pretty steep cuts but still 68% to 73% > 0%.

Union idiots are free to choose this course of action but they are also going to have to live with the consequences of that choice. The important thing is that these people get no public assistance benefits whatsoever. In this economy there is no reason that people struggling to get by should subsidize people who throw away jobs.

People voted for irresponsibility, now they must get it. No soft landings, no pity. It's time for harsh lessons to be learned.

posted by DrewM. at 10:13 AM

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