• 17
  • February
    2012

People in Los Angeles and across the entire country enjoy eating the yummy Hostess Brand cupcakes, Twinkies, Ho Hos and Wonder Bread that the company produces. However, employees of the company are saying that the cupcakes just are not worth the cost. What cost are they talking about? The proposed wage and hour cuts company executives recently suggested.

Hostess is currently involved in a Chapter 11 debt restructuring process. The latest suggestion made by the company was to reduce wages and employees are not going to sit still. Over 90 percent of the Hostess employees that are members of the Teamsters Union recently voted to strike if the "unfair contract terms" are approved.

Although some argue that the reductions are necessary to keep the company afloat, this is not the first time that the employees have made a sacrifice. In fact, twice before, the employees voluntarily agreed to benefit reductions that they say went unreturned in terms of progress. They have decided to put a halt on their surrenders until they are matched by company executives and other key stakeholders.

The employees have made it clear that they are not opposed to a cooperative solution, but that while they "remain committed to finding a solution to save the company, it won't be done solely on the backs of [Teamsters Union] members and Hostess employees," said one of the representatives. The Hostess team of employees is made up of mostly the members of 12 unions. The two largest are the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.

Source: abc News, "No More Twinkies? Hostess Workers Threaten Strike," Susanna Kim, Feb. 14, 2012