"Hostess Brands announced on Tuesday night that despite the help of a mediator, it had failed to reach a new labor agreement with the bakery workers union – and union officials said the company had indicated it would proceed with plans to liquidate.
“It’s over,” said David Durkee, secretary-treasurer of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union.
Hostess, an 82-year-old company, said that it would have no further comment until a hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday before Judge Robert D. Drain of the Federal Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. At a hearing on Monday, Judge Drain, eager to save the 18,500 jobs at Hostess, pressed the two sides to meet with a mediator, hoping the long-feuding company and union could narrow their differences.
Tuesday’s announcement came four days after Hostess – producer of such famed brands as Twinkies and Wonder Bread — announced that it would wind down its operations, a move precipitated by a bakery workers’ strike that began on Nov. 9 at two-thirds of the company’s 33 bakeries.
Ever since Hostess filed for bankruptcy last January, it has insisted that its labor costs were unsustainable and that it needed to cut its wage, health and pension costs to continue operating. But the bakery workers’ union balked, asserting that Hostess was badly mismanaged and that the company would likely face liquidation again in a year or two even if the union were to agree to a new round of cost-cutting concessions."
Summing Up
The bakers union official has now said, "It's over."
Thus, barring a miracle, liquidation is a certainty for Hostess.
Another certainty, barring another miracle, is that 18,500 employees will now lose their jobs because of the bakers union leadership, whose president failed to even show up for the last ditch mediation attempt today.
Happy Thanksgiving, President Hurt.
Thanks. Bob.
“It’s over,” said David Durkee, secretary-treasurer of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union.
Hostess, an 82-year-old company, said that it would have no further comment until a hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday before Judge Robert D. Drain of the Federal Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. At a hearing on Monday, Judge Drain, eager to save the 18,500 jobs at Hostess, pressed the two sides to meet with a mediator, hoping the long-feuding company and union could narrow their differences.
Tuesday’s announcement came four days after Hostess – producer of such famed brands as Twinkies and Wonder Bread — announced that it would wind down its operations, a move precipitated by a bakery workers’ strike that began on Nov. 9 at two-thirds of the company’s 33 bakeries.
Ever since Hostess filed for bankruptcy last January, it has insisted that its labor costs were unsustainable and that it needed to cut its wage, health and pension costs to continue operating. But the bakery workers’ union balked, asserting that Hostess was badly mismanaged and that the company would likely face liquidation again in a year or two even if the union were to agree to a new round of cost-cutting concessions."
Summing Up
The bakers union official has now said, "It's over."
Thus, barring a miracle, liquidation is a certainty for Hostess.
Another certainty, barring another miracle, is that 18,500 employees will now lose their jobs because of the bakers union leadership, whose president failed to even show up for the last ditch mediation attempt today.
Happy Thanksgiving, President Hurt.
Thanks. Bob.
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