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December 5, 2012

Letter: Workers the victim in Hostess deal

The Salem News

To the editor:

It’s no surprise that the leveraged buyout specialists who took over the bakery company that made Hostess products had no intention of trying to improve the company but destroy it because the sum of the parts would be worth more than the whole. They leveraged the company’s assets, taking out huge loans to allow them to take excessive management fees while saddling the company with huge debt payments, causing them to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, asking the workforce to give back hard-won benefits over the years to keep their jobs while paying off debts for pennies on the dollar, a modus operandi of leveraged buyout operators. It wasn’t long before they filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate and in the process asked the judge to allow their “hard-earned” bonuses to be paid. While 18,000 workers are thrown out of work, many who worked there their entire lives, the judge allowed the bonuses to be paid! The Bankruptcy Boys come out smelling like a rose, and such is the plight of America’s workforce in the age of corporate greed!

Saul P. Heller

Salem

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