Workers at Hostess plant in Henderson laid off
Laid-off employees from the Hostess plant in Henderson were not enjoying happy hour Friday at Remedy's tavern across the street from the plant.
They were drinking all right, mostly to drown their sorrow.
"There's really nothing to say. They closed up and sent all the employees home," said a man who would not give his name. "Call the CEO and ask him."
About 170 Hostess employees lost their jobs in Henderson, one of 33 bakeries nationwide for Irving, Texas-based Interstate Brands Corp., which also has a warehouse in North Las Vegas and a retail store on Craig Road.
Hostess filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January and went to court Friday to move forward with liquidation. The company laid off 18,500 workers nationwide.
Three security guards in golf carts patrolled the parking lot of the Henderson facility, which was mostly empty with fewer than a dozen cars in the afternoon. About 20 delivery trucks were parked in the docking bays.
Mike Fitzgeralds, who worked in shipping for two years, said the plant was making bread in the morning when the news came.
"We finished that off, and they told us to quit taking orders and start on inventory," he said outside the facility's gates. "It's typical American corporate greed. It's been a feeding trough for most of the executives. The CEOs spend a few years here and put millions of dollars in their pocket and take off. Now it's the workers' fault. We didn't file for bankruptcy, they did."
