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Hostess Wonderbread, Twinkies, Ho Ho's to Leave Shelves

Hostess Brands is asking a federal bankruptcy court for permission to close its doors after a bakers strike, laying off 18,500 workers.

 



Hostess Brands, the maker of Wonderbread, Ding Dongs, Devil Dogs and Ho Hos will close its doors as it petitions a federal bankruptcy court to close its operations due to an employee strike, according to CNN Money.

As a result, the Irving, Texas company, with a plant in Philadelphia, plans to liquidate, laying off 18,500 workers and selling off assets to the highest bidder. This means some of the baked goods could return to shelves at some point, but as part of another company.

"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.

The company, which has struggled financially and filed for bankruptcy in 2004, offered a new contract to employees with reduced wages and benefits earlier this year. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters voted narrowly to accept the contract; the bakers did not.

"These guys gave concessions when the company came out of bankruptcy in 2004. Now (the company) comes back and wants even more drastic cuts from workers," John Howard, a union official with the bakers' union, told the PJ Star Journal.

The contract cut salaries across the company by eight percent in the first year, with a planned three percent increase in each of the next three years and one percent in the final year.

Hostess also reduced its contributions towards employee health care plans, instead offering a 25 percent equity stake for workers and including two union representatives of an eight-member board of representatives.

Read more here at CNN Money.

Related Topics: Bankruptcy, Hostess, Layoffs, and Twinkies

Karl

8:43 am on Friday, November 16, 2012

6,000 striking workers cost another 12,000 workers their jobs plus their own. Congratulations. Just in time for the holidays. These unions and their administration in DC don't know the meaning of "financially unsustainable".

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fmrRPRez

1:50 pm on Friday, November 16, 2012

The Hostess management has been an unfortunate mix of selfish and incompetent. I wouldn't blame individual employees for choosing to seek employment elsewhere. But, why do unions get to make that decision for everyone? If the bakers didn't like the terms that the company offered them, they were already free to seek employment elsewhere. What gave the union the right to take the company's offer off the table?

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JB

8:26 am on Saturday, November 17, 2012

GOOD LUCK!!! Hugs and wishes!

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John Q. Public

8:55 am on Saturday, November 17, 2012

The bakers were expressing their displeasure with the cutbacks not realizing the company couldn't survive the stoppage. Union leadership should have researched this more thoroughly before presenting it to the membership. I do understand the employees' reluctance to accept the cutbacks, but am certain they'd have stayed on the job had they known the outcome. Even a lower paying job is better none, and it's easier to find another job when you already have one. I wish them luck.

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jackaroe

9:49 am on Tuesday, November 20, 2012

right so the ceo makes 2.4 million dollars but its the unions fault. silliness people!

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jhj

8:00 am on Saturday, March 9, 2013

Generally a smaller business is more flexible, while larger businesses, or those with wider ownership or more formal structures, will usually tend to be organized as corporations or partnerships. Thanks.
Regards,
http://youtu.be/7m7QEilKvRk | Creative Bioscience

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