Look, I used an exclamation point in the title. This should tell you how awesome this news is! The baking/cookie company, Archway, in Ohio had shut down abruptly back in October, leading to 300 people losing their jobs. The method in which they did it was particularly hard on the workers: they had changed their locks overnight and people found out when they showed up for work and tried to get inside.
“Wait,” you say. “Gladmin,” you say, “this isn’t made of happy! This is made of crappy!” Hmm… a new idea for a blog shows up in my head… *shakes head* No, no, this IS made of happy, I swear. Bear with me! *growl* Sorry, dumb pun.
But then Lance Inc., a Charlotte, North Carolina-based snack food company, purchased Archway at a bankruptcy auction. And last week 60 workers were asked to return immediately, with perhaps more coming back in the months ahead.
That’s wonderful. But wait, there’s more!
When it promised to reopen the bakery, Lance gave all 300 former Archway workers a $1,500 prepaid debit card.
“I was crying,” Devan says of the gift. “I am like, ‘What are these people doing? They don’t know me. They don’t know us. They don’t know any of the Archway people. And they are giving each and every one of us $1,500.’ ”
Sexton — the woman who’d been preparing her kids for a meager holiday — says of the $1,500 gift: “It was awesome. My first thought was, ‘I can give my kids a Christmas.’ ”
David Singer, CEO of Lance, says the gift cards were a way of letting Ashland know the new owners are different. “We wouldn’t do it willy-nilly,” Singer says. “We do want to make money. But this is the pool of folks that we intend to hire. We just wanted to let them know who we were.”
The 60 workers rehired so far are earning their previous salary and retained their seniority. They also were provided health insurance from day one.
Via Shuttered bakery reopens, rehires workers – CNN.
I am totally going to buy a cookie from Archway and Lance! You are such awesome employers! Like Sears, David Lance & his company are doing right by the people who make up their business, even though they don’t know them from Jack. You guys are so made of happy! And so are the employees and their families!