Hostess secures approval to implement bakery union contract changes

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, Oct. 4 - Hostess Brands, Inc. received court approval to reject non-terminated collective bargaining agreements with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union and implement the terms of the company's "last, best, final offer," according to a Thursday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Under the company's final offer, wages and commissions will be reduced from the current rates by 8% in the first year of implementation, by 5% from the baseline in the second, third and fourth years and by 4% from the baseline in the fifth year.

Hostess said negotiations with the BCT began in July 2011.

However, in mid-2012 the union refused to negotiate with the company until Hostess had reached an agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. That agreement was reached in early August.

Once it reached an agreement with the Teamsters, the company said it immediately turned to the BCT to negotiate a similar proposal.

After a few weeks of additional discussions, Hostess said the BCT leadership agreed to put the company's last proposal out for a vote among the local unions that represent Hostess employees.

Immediately after agreeing to solicit a vote, however, Hostess said BCT leadership began aggressively lobbying the local leadership and the membership to reject it.

Hostess Brands, an Irving, Texas-based operator of regional bakeries, filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 11, 2012. Its Chapter 11 case number is 12-22052.

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