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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, laying off 18,500 workers, in the wake of a bakers' strike.

 

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

As a result, the Irving, Texas-based company, which has a plant in Philadelphia, plans to liquidate. Hostess will lay off 18,500 workers and sell off its assets to the highest bidder.

This means some of its iconic baked goods could return to store shelves nationwide at some point, but as the produce 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.

Hostess has struggled financially, and filed for bankruptcy in 2004. It 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, an 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 Bankruptcy, and Twinkies

Stan Chaz

12:11 am on Sunday, November 18, 2012

Romney's gone, but vulture capitalism lives on. They blame a worker strike for the shutdown.
The Wall Street hedge fund managers who run the company have squeezed every cent out of Hostess for eight years. And they’ve put their friends with no experience in the baking industry in high-level management positions 
What’s happening here is a classic Bain Capital-style assault—blame the little guy to cover the greedy corporate policies that are gutting the middle class.
It’s not just happening to the workers who make the great products Americans love. What’s happening at Hostess is happening to workers all over this country. It’s wrong. And it has to stop.
Crony capitalism and poor management drove Hostess into the ground, not the workers who are now paying the price. In this struggling economy, the greedy corporate executives are willing to let 18,000 people lose their jobs—just so they can pad their pockets. What’s happening here is a classic Wall Street tactic—blame the little guy so that they can cover their greedy corporate policies that are gutting the middle class. Sign this pledge to stand with Hostess workers and against the tide of corporate greed wrecking our economy. http://act.aflcio.org/c/18/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=5109

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David Neamand

10:01 am on Monday, November 19, 2012

Oh I see Stan trying to stay in business is now greed - ok if you say so it must be true...

Jeff Lugar

11:30 am on Sunday, November 18, 2012

It's amazing that everyone's racing out to buy Twinkies like they're going to just disappear forever. They might be gone for a short time, but someone will buy the recipe and name and then start making them. Poor sales didn't kill Hostess, other factors did, and the Twinkie is still very much a viable product that someone will want to produce.

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