General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: BREAKING: Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, is going out of business [View all]Chan790
(20,176 posts)I am merely deeply morally-ambivalent about it.
I'm staunchly pro-union and will always be so, I've even argued before that in situations such as this that the workers should be treated as creditors for the fulfillment of previous agreements like pensions and belong at the front of the line, not the end. I've argued in the face of monolithic opposition from both conservatives and corporatist (fake) Democrats for repeal of Taft-Hartley as to re-empower labor to actually fight effectively for the rights of workers. I think that board-members and shareholders should be wiped out by these sorts of bankruptcy/reorganizations...it should be illegal for them to walk away with one red cent.
At the same time, it's hard to be upset over Hostess going belly-up because their toxic food no longer sells well, same as it'd be hard to be be upset over McDonald's going out-of-business because people started eating healthier or major military conglomerates like UTC and Northrop-Grumman closing up shop because of declining-demand for their billion-dollar war-toys.
UTC or Northrop going under would put a hell of a lot more union workers out of work...but somehow I think there would be a lot more celebration and less hand-wringing at DU over it.