So we hear that the demise of Hostess is because those 18,000 greedy union members were on strike because they refuse to have their $20-an-hour salaries cut by 8 percent along with a 32-percent cut in their benefits.
However, during this same period, the CEO received a 300-percent salary bump, and the top nine executives received raises ranging from 60 percent to 100 percent. Included in this sleight of hand is the redirection of $160 million in employees’ pension funding.
I suspect that this bankruptcy is a “Bain Faint,” a business model followed by vulture capitalists that goes something like this: Bankrupt the company, bust the union, capture the employees’ pension fund, repurchase the assets at cents on the dollar, rehire the employees at half the previous salary with no benefits and announce triumphantly that Hostess will return; all the while patting each other on the back for their great sacrifice in saving the company.
Welcome to the new age of the robber barons.
Steven Eagle, Miami
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