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Twinkies and Ding Dong workers on strike

About 330 workers at Hostess Brands' Northeast Philadelphia plant went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, part of a national strike called by the bakers' union at the bankrupt company's plants across the country.

About 330 workers at Hostess Brands' Northeast Philadelphia plant went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, part of a national strike called by the bakers' union at the bankrupt company's plants across the country.

Thousands of workers in the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union are protesting the company's decision to cut wages and other benefits, said James Condran, an international union representative who was at the Philadelphia plant at Grant Avenue and Blue Grass Road on Saturday.

The company, which makes Wonder Bread, Twinkies, Ding Dongs, HoHos, and other products, is in bankruptcy for the second time. Condran said the contract changes amount to a 27 to 32 percent cut, including an 8 percent wage cut. The company also stopped making contributions to workers' pensions, he said.

- Susan Snyder