Hope For Ho-Hos? – Judge Orders Hostess & Union Back to Bargaining Table
Maybe all your hoarding was for naught.A federal bankruptcy judge ordered Hostess and its rebellious union to sit down again and talk. It is hoped this will avoid a sell-off of the most well-known snack maker in the world that would idle 36 plants and end 18,000 jobs or more.
The judge ordered the talks after Hostess presented a plan to liquidate the entire company to the highest bidder, even selling it off in chunks. While union officials are hopeful about the new talks, or a possible buyer swooping in to take over the company, Hostess officials had a different view.
The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International union encouraged the strike of 5,600 workers that spelled the death of Hostess. It is hoping for a miracle, however, Hostess CEO Greg Rayburn had a far more dark prediction on how the bankruptcy will end. He told the Wall Street Journal and Fox Business:
"Nobody wants to have anything to do with these old plants or these unions or these contracts," Rayburn said in an interview. The company had hunted for buyers for the last several years as it tried to avoid a second trip into bankruptcy, but no buyer came forward.