ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOX) – Less than two weeks after Hostess ceased operations, blaming a strike by its Bakers’ Union, some of its former St. Louis truck drivers are now getting help from the state in starting their search for their next jobs.

“It feels like going to a funeral,” Rick Maruko describes.

Maruko was among 75 Teamsters getting help from Missouri’s Dislocated Workers Program. (http://www.mo.gov/work)

He says Hostess has been mismanaged for years but he’s disappointed the Baker’s Union brought it to this point.

Fellow Teamsters Geoff Burwell agrees, “If you didn’t want it then keep your job, and go look for a better one. But let’s not loose twenty-thousand jobs in this economy.”

Burwell says the last time he lost a job, 16 years ago, he was driving for a new company the next day. He says that hasn’t happened this time.