Shocker: Department Of Labor Gives Twinkie-Killing Union Workers A Bailout

When the ponderously-named Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike they made national headlines for potentially killing off Twinkies. Of course, the unions hotly denied that it was their unreasonable demands and strike when those demands weren’t met that killed Twinkies.

Now, by way of granting the union workers a big, fat bailout (this is the same union, by the way, that just won unemployment benefits from the North Dakota Supreme Court) the Department of Labor is claiming that it was foreign competitors which did the company in.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Labor claim it wasn’t the decision of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union to go on strike that finally brought about the Twinkie’s demise, but rather the increased import and sale of products from Hostess’ foreign competitors.

Wait, what?

As a result of the DOL’s unique interpretation, more than 18,000 former Hostess employees are eligible for thousands of dollars in extra assistance above and beyond standard unemployment insurance, funded through the department’s Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program — and your tax dollars.

Do you think maybe Hostess couldn’t compete with its foreign counterparts because they were saddled with an unreasonable union they couldn’t get rid of?

That’s the obvious conclusion. But then, the Obama administration was no doubt looking for an excuse to funnel a little more money to their union allies.