IRVING, Texas — Hostess, the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, is going out of business, closing plants, laying off its 18,500 workers and putting its brands up for sale.
The Irving, Texas, company said a nationwide worker strike crippled its ability to make and deliver its products. Its brands also include Ding Dongs, Ho Ho’s and Dolly Madison.
Hostess had warned employees that it would file a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to unwind its business and sell assets if plant operations didn’t return to normal levels by Thursday evening. The privately held company filed for Chapter 11 protection in January, its second trip through bankruptcy court in less than a decade.
“Many people have worked incredibly long and hard to keep this from happening, but now Hostess Brands has no other alternative than to begin the process of winding down and preparing for the sale of our iconic brands,” CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said in a letter to employees posted on the company website.
He added that all employees will eventually lose their jobs, “some sooner than others.”
Thousands of members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike last week after rejecting in September a contract offer that cut wages and benefits. Hostess had already reached a contract agreement with its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Hostess has said that production at about a dozen of the company’s 33 plants has been seriously affected by the strike. Three plants were closed earlier this week.
The company, founded in 1930, was fighting battles beyond labor costs. Competition is increasing in the snack space and Americans are increasingly conscious about healthy eating. Hostess also makes Dolly Madison, Drake’s and Nature’s Pride snacks.
Hate to sound like a jackass, but from how I read the article it’s really sounds like it’s the unions doing. I understand not wanting to take a pay cut, but whats better a pay cut or now not having a job? Also wtf I like those cupcakes.
Or I wonder if this is just a clever way to get out of the contract since if the company is disolved and the brands and product rights bought by a different corporation they don’t have to honor old contracts with unions.
Frank Hurt, president of the striking Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, said a recent chain of events shows Hostess is being misleading by saying the plants closed because of the strike. The union represents 5,300 of Hostess’ 18,300 workers.
But in a Tuesday article on the KMOX-CBS website, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said he “was told months ago they were planning on closing the site in St. Louis. And there was no indication at that time it had anything to do with the strike the workers were waging.”
Bankruptcy filings indicate Hostess already had planned to close nine bakeries as part of its restructuring plan; three more bakeries were to be closed with Hostess’ planned sale of its Merita division, the BCTGM release states.
The Twinkies and Wonder bread baker formerly was based in Kansas City under the name Interstate Bakeries Corp.This is Hostess’ second Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding.
check out a majority of our new jobs they created. factory jobs or hard labor imo. they lower the standard of working in america.
at the end of the day i want more jobs but the jobs that i want are the ones you can support a family on. 50k+ for under 40hrs. i wish they didnt count mcdonalds min wage jobs as a real job in america. they dont count certain unemployment numbers but yet they count a part time burger fliping 8$/hr a job wtf. we need bread winning jobs for the people.
We need ALL kinds of jobs. That’s what’s wrong with this country, everyone thinks they must have a college, white collar, $90K+ a year job that they sit at a desk all day and don’t do shit. You need manufacturing jobs here. You need desk jobs. You need laborers.
Look at Hostess, you have another company that makes the plastic wrappers for the Twinkies, another makes the trays the cup cakes go in, another probably prints and makes the boxes, fleet maintenance on their trucks, all of that is now directly effected by this one company closing. And I’m sure this is one of many that will go under.
I see more and more of today’s youth with zero creativity. They all follow and copy. They see someone else’s success and feel they have to mimic it. But that’s beside the topic we’re on.
i think we need all kinds of jobs to. but we need jobs that people can live off of. not jobs where you work pay check to pay check and credit card to card. you need a job where you can save some money for just in case and be able to provide for a family. thats just my opnion. i never said we dont need certain kind of jobs.
also we should all know the spider web effect. one job lost doesnt help the economy so 18,500 lost wouldnt help. the lunch place where the old workers ate would get effected
and i agree with your last statement. if you follow the leader and do as your told everything will be ok. or so we are told. creativity and philoshpy should be taught at school. but instead going to college and spending money is taught at our schools. pull up a chair and watch mtv jersey shore. they teach our kids. beleve it or not they teach our future. i know i push this hard but look at the movie idocracy.
No kids today seem to have any desire to be creative or make anything with their hands. If much rather have a job where I can assemble shit all day with my hands for $45K than a job where I look after 20 people and sit in a small office behind a computer screen for $55K.
drop those numbers lower and see how you feel, say a factory worker whom assembles things with his hands makes 35k a year ( which i think is a more accurate number ) and the guy in the office overseeing 20 people makes 55k. what one would you pick if you had the option to do so.
i know factory workers who make under 20k a year so drop that number even more. companies will say oo we will hire you for training for 10/hr for a few months and you might be able to get 20/hr then fire you right after your training. they dont need workers that are super skilled. they would rather have a cheap worker for a limited time. so once you do 3mths work hard labor because you want people to like you at your job then you get fired. places do this every day.
national average for a factory worker is about $20/hr so that means people make less
