BIDDEFORD — Production continues at Biddeford Hostess Brands Inc. bakery, despite an estimated 300 employees, of the approximately 370-member workforce, who are striking.

According to company spokesman Erik Halvorson, office staff, plant supervisors and about 20 workers who have crossed the picket line are staffing the bakery and running two 10-hour shifts per day.

However, according to a statement from the striking union, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, the “company claims that union members are crossing picket lines and maintaining production at striking plants are vastly untrue.”

The strike by BCTGM members of Local 334 began in Biddeford at 5 p.m. Friday.

Workers at the Biddeford plant were the second group of BCTGM members in the country to go on strike at Hostess plants. Strikes are taking place at more than a dozen facilities. In addition, workers at other facilities are honoring the strike.

Two people have been arrested in relation to the strike.

One striker, 55-year-old Jerry Leighton of Biddeford, was arrested Monday for carrying a concealed weapon, according to Police Deputy Chief JoAnne Fisk.

While Leighton does have a concealed weapons permit, stated Fisk, it is illegal, even for those with such a permit, to carry a dangerous weapon at labor disputes and strikes. The only exemption to this law is that in some circumstances security guards are allowed to carry a weapon.

Leighton is charged with a Class D felony, which carries a minimum sentence of one year in jail and a possible fine of up to $10,000.

Jean Claude Gauttier, 53, was also arrested and charged with criminal threatening on Tuesday at 5:58 p.m. Gauttier was trying to drive out of the site Tuesday, when he got out of his vehicle, holding a large pipe, and told those on strike to stay away from his car. Police at the scene said no one touched the car or blocked the roadway.

Fisk said these have been the only two arrests, and police are at the site 24 hours a day.

Union representatives say the strike is a result of a contract that Hostess is trying to force on workers that calls for wage and benefit reductions.

These reductions are needed for the company, which began bankruptcy proceedings at the beginning of the year, to stay afloat, said Hostess representatives.

If BCTGM workers refuse to accept the new contract, which a bankruptcy judge allowed the company to impose on union members, the company will sell off its assets and fold, said Hostess CEO Greg Rayburn.

In addition, “A widespread strike will cause Hostess Brands to liquidate if we are unable to produce or deliver products,” according to a statement from the company issued Friday in response to the strike.

That could mean the loss of 18,300 jobs across the country.

Already, on Monday, the company announced that three Hostess bakeries, in Seattle, St. Louis and Cincinnati, would close permanently because of the strike. This will put 637 employees out of work.

But according to a union statement, those plant closures were already planned and are not a result of the strike.

In a company filing with the bankruptcy court, Hostess was planning to close nine facilities, according to the union.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay was quoted in a Nov. 13 KMOX-CBS St. Louis article stating, “I was told months ago they were planning on closing the site in St. Louis. ”¦ And there was no indication at that time it had anything to do with the strike the workers were waging.”

“Our members are on strike because they have had enough,” said BCTGM International Union Frank Hurt. “They are not willing to take draconian wage and benefit cuts on top of the significant concessions they made in 2004 and give up their pension so that the Wall Street vulture capitalists in control of this company can walk away with millions of dollars.”

In addition to the wage and benefit cuts that the contract calls for, said BCTGM local 334 spokesman John Jordan, another significant issue is that the company stopped paying into a workers’ pension plan in July 2011.

The money for the pension comes from workers’ wages and amounts to “theft” he said.

The payments ended because the company couldn’t sustain them, said Hostess spokesman Tom Becker. He said the company plans to resume payments into worker pension funds in January.

Other complaints, according to a union statement, is that when workers accepted wage concessions when Hostess went through another bankruptcy from 2004-2009, the company was supposed to invest money in modernizing production facilities, which didn’t happen.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.