More than 60 members of the Teamsters Local 229 at Bazooka in Moosic ratified a new three-year contract with 15% pay raises, the union announced Tuesday.

Calling it a “strong” contract for workers, the union said the pact also has more affordable health care, improvements to the Teamsters pension plan, a stronger vacation structure, increased shift differentials, and enhanced profit-sharing language.

“This contract is a major win for the hardworking men and women at Bazooka,” said Joe Secor, Vice President and Business Agent of Local 229. “Their labor is crucial to producing Ring Pops, one of the company’s most iconic products. I’m proud of the unity and determination this group showed throughout negotiations.”

In May, the workers voted to strike after the candy company and union failed to reach a contract. Improved wages and affordable healthcare were primary sticking points in negotiations that began in October 2025. The authorization vote cleared the way for a strike to potentially occur.

Teamsters at the Bazooka facility perform critical work across production, maintenance, shipping, packaging, and quality control operations that keep the business running and products moving to customers nationwide, according to the release. The plant is the only facility in the United States that manufactures Ring Pops, one of the company’s most popular and recognizable candy brands.

“I’ve been at this plant for over 20 years, and I’m glad we were able to secure such a strong contract,” said Bernie Hoover, a worker at Bazooka and steward with Local 229. “This is going to make a real difference for us and our families. It’s a proud moment for all of us who have built our lives around this work and in this town.”

Founded in 1938

Bazooka Candy Brands also manufactures and markets the iconic Bazooka Bubble Gum and the lollipop brands Push Pop, Baby Bottle Pop, Juicy Drop and other candy and gummy products.

Founded in 1938 as family-owned Topps Chewing Gum, the company initially produced a popular penny gum at a factory in Brooklyn, New York, according to the Bazooka Candy Brands website. After World War II, the company developed Bazooka Bubble Gum and the wisecracking character Bazooka Joe featured in comics in the gum wrappers. Ring Pop was launched in 1977 and was followed by other lollipop products.

In 2023, funds advised by Apax Partners LLP acquired Bazooka Candy Brands. Apax purchased the candy company from the Torante Co., a private investment firm owned by former Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner, and Madison Dearborn Partners, another private equity firm, according to archives of The Times-Tribune.

Move to Moosic from Scranton

After more than four decades in Scranton, Bazooka Candy Brands on Aug. 29, 2024, unexpectedly had to shut down its location at 50 Poplar St. in Pine Brook because of structural issues regarding settlement of the floors there. That location previously had been a Topps facility. At the time of the shutdown, a company official described the closure in Scranton as temporary, but for an unknown duration.

It became a permanent shutdown and relocation to a larger, existing factory at the former Fresh N’Lean food preparation facility at 4135 Birney Ave. in Moosic.

Bazooka had the Moosic location running by late February 2025. This larger plant would allow for increased production, of eventually up to 1.5 million of the novelty wearable Ring Pop lollipops each day, according to an article in March 2025 in The Times-Tribune about the relocation.

The new location in Moosic also opened up more opportunities for the company, Bazooka CEO Tony Jacobs had said in the March 2025 article.

“Ring Pop is our most important product for Bazooka Brands,” Jacobs had said. “We’ve been growing significantly over the last 10 years and Ring Pop has been a key driver of it. The demand for it keeps on increasing. When we were at the Scranton facility, we were able to make about 280 million Ring Pops a year. With this facility, and our ability to expand, we will hopefully be able to get up to 400 million Ring Pops, when we’re fully running.”

To create the Ring Pop candy, employees heat a mixture of corn syrup and sugar up to 300 degrees and add flavors and colors to create hot, liquid candy, which is then injected into the mold of the candy ring before going into a cooling tunnel to harden.