Ryan McCarthy reviews the reasons Hostess went bankrupt (apart from terrifying commercials like the one above):
"The union has been the death of this company", one former HR worker told Reuters. Of course, this is not the whole story: CEO pay was also increasing as the company struggled. David Kaplan’s long piece on Hostess from July blames management, distressed debt investors, and a stale — if not perishable — product.
Surowiecki notes the lack of sympathy for Hostess's union workforce:
When organized labor represented more than a third of American workers, it was easy for unions to send the message that in agitating for their own interests, union members were also helping improve conditions for workers in general. But as unions have shrunk, and have become increasingly concentrated in the public sector, it’s become easier for people to dismiss them as just another special interest, looking to hold onto perks that no one else gets.
What's vexing to me is that just as Colorado and Washington have legalized the munchies, Hostess bellies up. That does not seem to me to be good timing.
(Video via "The Best Of Hostess Commercials, 1970-2012")
The Dish 