Bankrupt Hostess Brands is dealing with a widespread strike after thousands of workers at more than 20 plants across the country walked off the job or refused to cross picket lines in protest of a pay cut.
Bakery workers at 12 plants ranging from Seattle to Orlando, Fla., walked off the job after the company imposed an 8 percent wage reduction. The strike began Friday at the Lenexa, Kan., plant with others following over the weekend.
The Hostess plant in Philadelphia, which employs about 500 workers and is the key supplier to New York, didn’t go on strike but production was halted after workers refused to cross a picket line. At least eight other plants — in addition to the 12 on strike — were also hit with picket lines.
“This needs to get solved by next weekend or we’re done,” said one Hostess delivery driver, who declined to be named. “There is enough Nature’s Pride, Wonder Bread and Twinkies cakes to supply New York City stores for today, and perhaps tomorrow, but that is it.
“If the strike continues, you would see a shortage by the weekend.”
Hostess is moving much of its Northeast area management to the Philadelphia plant in an attempt to restart production, while it tries to line up replacement workers, the driver added.
He predicted rivals like Entenmann’s and Flowers Foods could claim Hostess’ shelf space in stores that would be hard to get back. During a previous strike, the baker did lose lucrative business with Costco that wasn’t restored after the work stoppage, the driver said.
Hostess, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, operates 36 plants in the US and employs more than 18,000 workers. About 6,000 of those belong to the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.
Hostess reached a deal with the Teamsters on a package of pay and benefit cuts. The bakers’ union, the company’s second largest, largely stayed out of the talks and voted to reject the contract.
Hostess won the right in bankruptcy court to impose the contract on all its workers. Nonetheless, the company in recent weeks has offered the bakers the chance to enter mediation, a source said, but they have refused.
In addition to the pay cut, the contract calls for a 17 percent cut in health benefits and the elimination of pension benefits starting next year.
Hostess, which is on its second trip through bankruptcy court, has said it will be forced to liquidate in the event of a crippling strike.
“As I’ve said before, a work stoppage will close this plant permanently if we are unable to produce or deliver product,” Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn said in a memo to workers at one factory.
He added the company would escort employees across pickets lines “to ensure safe access in and out of the bakery.”