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Future Uncertain For Awrey Bakeries After Union Rejects Contract

LIVONIA (WWJ) - About 150 union workers at Awrey Bakeries rejected a take-it-or-leave-it contract on Wednesday, leaving the Livonia company's future in doubt.

Union officials say members of Council 30 voted against a proposal, 73-63, which called for a $2-per-hour wage concession and the layoff of 26 employees. The union previously rejected the proposal Sunday by six votes.

Workers say they were told in advance of the vote that if the union defeated the proposal, Awrey's would shut down.

Reports indicate that a liquidator, Barry Kasoff, president of Realization Services, met with union members Wednesday to try to convince them to ratify the agreement. After the rejection, Kasoff was meeting with union leaders, presumably to discuss liquidation and the company's plans.

Awrey's has been in business for 102 years, making bread, cakes, donuts, pastries and muffins. The bakery has called Livonia home since 1967, when it relocated from Detroit to its current location on Farmington Road.

The Awrey family sold the business in 2005 to Hilco Equity of Chicago and Monomoy Capital Partners to help the company emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. For their part, Monomoy Capital Partners on their website says they turned Awrey's "from a broken family-owned business to a successful, vibrant and profitable enterprise."

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