Hostess Could Lay Off 381 Workers In Michigan
TROY (WWJ/AP) - Hostess Brands Inc. has told Michigan officials that it could lay off all of its 381 employees at 20 locations in the state if the company liquidates as part of its bankruptcy restructuring.
Hostess announced it sent notices last week to 18,500 employees nationwide, according to a report on Mlive.com. The Irving, Texas-based maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January.
Click here to read the notice. (.pdf format)
A Michigan government website says Hostess notified the state of the layoffs Monday. They include 65 jobs each at locations in Troy and Detroit, 57 in Livonia and 44 in the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming.
"The notices were sent to alert employees that a sale or wind-down of the company is possible in the future," spokesman Erik Halvorson said in a statement. "However, our goal is still to emerge from bankruptcy as a growing company and there are no immediate actions being taken to sell or wind down the company."
Halvorson said the Michigan locations are retail outlets or distribution centers. He said Hostess doesn't have a bakery in the state.
Hostess was founded in 1888, and started selling Twinkies two-for-a-nickel in 1930, according to the company's website. The company has 19,000 employees, who operate 36 bakeries and 570 retail outlets nationwide, and run 5,500 delivery routes from 565 distribution centers.
Visitors to local Hostess stores enjoy discounts like a loaf of Wonder bread for 99 cents, and 10 snack cakes for $3 or .40 cents each.
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