Hostess workers hold out hope

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - It's officially official. A judge said Wednesday Hostess could begin to shut down its 33 plants, and hundreds of stores nationwide.

That includes stores here in Indiana that employ some 800 Hoosier workers.

So why are some of them, who spent the last week on the picket line, still sitting outside an Indianapolis bakery?

24-Hour News 8 went to find out.

They’re keeping the faith that they will once again be employed at the bakery. Local experts say the positive attitude may not be enough.

“It hits us now, a sickening feeling. I’m gonna keep the faith,” said Mark Wills, a Hostess worker.

They maintain the mantra: better this than their job with concessions.

“We were actually hoping that would happen because we know there's companies out there that are willing to purchase us. Whatever the cost is it’s definitely better than what this company is offering us,” said Wedrick Hollingsworth, business agent for Bakers Union Local 372-B.

“Hopefully someone will see something in there and we all will be back,” said Hostess Worker John Phillip.

Bill Rieber is an economist at Butler University. He says without Hostess behind the brands, they've lost some prestige.

“It’s not clear that the brands will be bought by other bakers. They might, but even if they do, they may not locate their production in Indianapolis and Columbus as they had before,” said Rieber.

Longtime local baker and instructor at Ivy Tech Rick Crawford says he believes the beloved Twinkies will live on, but he's not so sure about the plants Hostess inhabited.

“I hate to say it, but there are too many plants that they shut down. Only the most modern, and the ones that produce the best, stand a chance of coming back,” said Crawford.

“If it doesn’t happen, whatever happens, we just couldn’t accept concessions coming here,” said Hollingsworth.

24-Hour News 8 also talked with those two experts about what went wrong. How did 800 Hoosiers come to be in this predicament, just before the holidays?

They said it wasn't just the union strike.

The baking business has suffered nationwide as the economy suffered. Crawford says commodities are at record high costs.

Rieber said people are also looking to eat healthier in general. He also cited some management decisions within Hostess that didn't work out well, shrinking the revenue.

Ultimately Crawford said, in the broader picture, this just shows no brand is safe.