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A DISSENTING POINT OF VIEW

Years of corporate and right wing political propaganda have trained people to scapegoat unions for any and all of the country's economic problems. So it's as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning that folks here would blame "the union." when Hostess Brands Inc. announced it would ask a bankruptcy judge for permission to liquidate the company after Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) refused to call off a strike after being ordered to do so by Hostess' hedge fund owners.

"How stupid can you get?" was a fairly typical response of those quick to blame workers and the union.

Few blame the mis-managers of a company that has been in bankruptcy protection for all but 3 out of the last 8 years and is now owned by hedge funds Silver Point and Monarch. For many, the knee jerk reaction is to blame workers like Mike Hummel, a receiving clerk and a Baker's union member.

According to a story on CNNMoney, Hummell was making $48,000 per year when the company first entered bankruptcy protection in 2004. To help the company and protect his job, he and the union accepted concessions that cut his pay to $34,000 a year. He said the latest round of give-backs demanded by the bosses would have cut his pay to $24,000 and significantly increased out-of-pocket expenses for insurance.

"The point is the jobs they'e offering us aren't worth saving,"he said Friday. "It instantly casts me into poverty. I wouldn't be able to make my house payment. My take-home would be less than unemployment benefits. Being on unemployment while we search for a new job, that's a better choice than working these hours for poverty wages," he told CNNMoney.

Union officials and workers also say that past concessions weren't used to modernize plants and trucks but instead went into the pockets of owners, including private equity firms and hedge funds.

Under the cover of bankruptcy, Silver Point and Monarch are also raiding the workers' pension funds. CNBC reports the Teamsters believe "they've been fleeced out of almost $100 million from Hostess after the company 'temporarily' ceased making union pension contributions last August. That move by Hostess was a breach of its collective-bargaining agreement with the unions."

According to Fortune magazine, "The critical issue in the bankruptcy is legacy pensions. Hostess has roughly $2 billion in unfunded pension liabilities to its various unions' workers."

The only likely winners will be Silver Point and Monarch, the hedge fund owners who are asking the bankruptcy judge to liquidate Hostess. "Silver Point and Monarch-as well as the other secured creditors-will realize some value for their investment in the company, although certainly far less than they had hoped."


As for the workers? Silver Point and Monarch walk away with a profit and the workers lose their jobs and face the added insult of being blamed for it by a public too ready to accept the anti-union propaganda of the right wing and mainstream media.

How stupid can you get?