...while the executives were being paid about 7 million dollars? We blame the unions instead? okay...
Why can't we blame poor management-capitalism at work?

The management of this company voted themselves massive pay increases. I can hardly say that they acted in good faith and had they wanted to actually save the company they should have made the first sacrifice themselves.

18500 workers averaging 2000 hours per year works out to being 37 million man hours of labour in a year; and the CEO's 7 Million salary works out to being $0.18/hour of the worker's salary ... Don't get me wrong the CEO's salary is awful given the shape of the company but the $2 Billion pension liability along with wages and benefits paid to employees that couldn't be justified by the current state of the company are what drove Hostess bankrupt.

Ultimately, I think most executives for a company this large should be paid a (very) good salary (say $250,000/year) and receive a large amount of stock options (the option to buy $10,000,000 worth of stock at today's value for $10,000,000 5 years from now). If they're good at their job the value of the company will increase and they will (likely) make a similar amount of money, but if they're bad at their job the company is only out their (more modest) salary.

Unions sinking junk food producers and posing the risk of making Americans slimmer? This must be avoided at all costs! The sudden barycentre change could knock Earth out of its orbit!

Unions as an idea isn't the problem. The problem is that unions have become huge corporations that only care about making money off their membership dues.

It used to be that unions were small local groups organised by enough people to bargain with the businesses they work for. Unions were able to institute all kinds of good labor laws and industry safety standards. Their job is done. Workers are protected by laws and the only thing left for unions to do is suck as much money out of payrole as they can. It's killing US business.

I've worked for a number of places that required Union membership. I didn't get anything out of it as I watched money get taken from my paychecks.

If we passed a law that reduced the size of Unions it would limit their power. I think it needs to be done. Unions should be local again and only have enough power to keep work conditions safe and pay fair.

Unions aren't the problem. It's is corporate greed and out of control top employee compensation. The uses to be a rule that the lowest paid employee couldn't be more than 16 times the highest paid employee. In the USA today, it is sometimes over 3,000 times! Unless you have cured cancer, I see no reason to justify paying some executive a 50 million dollar salary.

When Hostes filed bankruptcy a few years ago, 110 million dollars that should have gone back into the business gone. And the executives have been giving themselves hansom raises - even in the past year!

I know it seems like the Unions are evil - but they are the only thing holding the people that actually make the stuff to be treated as surfs or worse. As much as it pains me to say it - I was brought up thinking unions were evil and just caused companies to go bankrupt. It propaganda from the richie-rich that are blaming the workers.

As business need to know and treat it's talent well. Hostess is just an example of vulture capitalism.

Together we bargain, divided we beg!

How people forget that peoples right to unionise had to be protected. Such as with the 1936 Flint sit down strike.

Now you can say what you like about unions but you also have to admit that corporations can and will do much worse.

I read "get rid of Unicorns". Quite disappointing.

No they don't, my job just got done cutting 45% out of wages for 2013, so about 12 people will lose their jobs. You know who those 12 people are? the no union employees... All 12 have been with the company for 15 years. Now the remaining non union employees are unmotivated to work, scared of losing their jobs, and they wont be getting a raise, and they have to pick up the work for the now laid off employees, because the daily work load remains the same.
The company was not hurting for cash either, they just raised the price of their highest selling products and is forecasting to be up 28% over 2012 on the price increase alone.

Mean while the union employees are sitting pretty getting a raise, not working weekends, and getting their overtime. Unions offer balance and most of them are fair. Some companies need to have a union to prevent annoying shit like this from happening, or at least limit it.