KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sharon Mountjoy has worked for Hostess Brands for 15 years, but this week will be her last – through no choice of her own.
The manager of the Wonder Bread Outlet Store on Vivion Road in the Northland will be losing her job just four weeks before Christmas.
“I informed the grandchildren, Grandma can’t do much, she will try but she can’t do much,” said Mountjoy.
Mountjoy is one of 18,500 workers who will eventually be out of a job. All but 3,200 employees will be gone by Wednesday.
Mountjoy does not belong to the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Union that management blames for the company’s plan to liquidate and sell it’s remaining assets. The Baker’s Union represents 30 percent of Hostess employees.
“Teamsters had agreed to do what it took to keep this company alive and we got shot in the back by the Baker’s Union,” said Mountjoy, who adds that company executives deserve blame too, especially former CEO Brain Driscoll, who MSNBC reports tripled his salary to $2.4 million dollars during the company’s last round of bankruptcy.
“I blame it on the previous CEO that we did have for all that he did to this company and all that he took, which shouldn’t have happened,” said Mountjoy.
She’s especially unhappy to learn that 19 current executives have asked a bankruptcy judge to approve $1.75 million dollars worth of retention bonuses. She tells FOX 4 she hopes the judge, “laughs at them.”
The Bankruptcy Judge has yet to rule on the retention bonuses but has otherwise approved the company’s plan to liquidate. Mountjoy says she hopes there’s enough Wonder Bread on the store shelves to keep her location open until Saturday December 1st.
She’s been told if that happens, the company will provide her health insurance through the end of the year, adding “It’s really important to have that health care.”
