Hostess bankruptcy closes Wasilla outlet

WASILLA — It’s a national story about unions and management, strikes and bankruptcies.

But in the Valley, the Hostess Brands Inc., shutdown has meant just a couple of things:

Bare shelves at the supermarket where the Twinkies used to be. And no more cut-rate bread and pastries in the little outlet store in the Shop-Rite Mall.

No one answers the local retail store’s phone line and a sign on the door at 443 W. Parks Highway says “Hostess Brands has closed all locations. For more information, see hostessbrands.info.” The shelves inside the store are empty and some of the signage has been removed.

If you haven’t been following the larger saga, Hostess Brands claims that irresolvable dispute with its union, the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, have forced it out of business. The company is “winding down” its business now, sending a letter Wednesday firing thousands and directing them to hostessbrands.info for links to unemployment centers and job banks.

“The wind down means the closure of 33 bakeries, 565 distribution centers, approximately 5,500 delivery routes, 570 bakery outlet stores and the loss of 18,500 jobs,” the company wrote on its website.

The union, meanwhile, blames mismanagement, saying the company spread itself too thin in the 1990s and made some boneheaded decisions that led to bankruptcy in 2004. The company squeezed concessions from the union then.

According to the union’s narrative, Hostess came out of bankruptcy in 2009 with new owners — a private equity firm and two hedge funds — and started asking for more union concessions; even bigger ones than in 2004.

“And yet, while simultaneously asking its workers to take a sizable pay-cut and say goodbye to their pensions they earned, company executives gave themselves lavish raises. The CEO was to see his pay increase 300 percent while at least nine other top executives were to see their pay increase between 35 percent to 80 percent,” the union states.