Trumka said Hostess’ leaders and policies were 'wrecking America.' Union: 'Bain-style' killing of Twinkie

The Bain attack is back.

This time it’s being used against Hostess Brands, the Twinkies and Wonder Bread maker that announced Friday it was closing. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka drew the comparison in a public statement Friday.


“What’s happening with Hostess Brands is a microcosm of what’s wrong with America, as Bain-style Wall Street vultures make themselves rich by making America poor,” Trumka said in a public statement. “Crony capitalism and consistently poor management drove Hostess into the ground, but its workers are paying the price.”

( Also on POLITICO: Twinkie-maker Hostess to close)

Earlier Friday, Hostess Brands announced that it would be closing, which the company said was precipitated by a workers’ strike.

Trumka’s comparing Hostess to Bain comes after an election in which former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney was criticized for co-founding Bain Capital.

The union leader took the workers’ the side, saying Hostess’ leaders and policies were “wrecking America.”

( Also on POLITICO: Petition wants Obama to save Twinkies)

“These workers, who consistently make great products Americans love and have offered multiple concessions, want their company to succeed,” Trumka said in the statement. “They have bravely taken a stand against the corporate race-to-the-bottom. And now they and their communities are suffering the tragedy of a needless layoff. This is wrong. It has to stop. It’s wrecking America.”

The closure of Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, means the company will lay off its 18,500 employees. In 2009, Hostess came out of bankruptcy thanks in part to private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, which made a $130 million investment, CNBC reported Friday. Hostess filed again for bankruptcy in January, and its debt was later purchased by investment firms, including two hedge funds: Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital, according to a CNN Money report.

Last week, thousands of Hostess union member employees went on strike because of cut wages and benefits, The Associated Press reported Friday.

Hostess has said the company was unprofitable, in part due to union workers’ demands. (The workers who went on strike were members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.)

Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh fired back at Trumka on his radio program Friday.

“[Obama] gets to blame Romney, Bain Capital and the Republicans for the fact that the company’s failed. And at the same time he gets to blame capitalism, crony capitalism. That’s Trumka’s word here. Crony capitalism, Bain-style, Wall Street vultures,” Limbaugh said, according to a show transcript. “See, you and I, we sit here, we hear that, we say nobody is gonna believe that, until we stop and realize that over half the country already thinks it.”

Limbaugh said that Trumka was rehashing the same old attacks that unions and the left have used against Romney, fitting a story line most of the public is already familiar with.

“Trumka didn’t have to even tell his voters, they already know. He was just confirming it for ‘em. Al-Qaeda’s alive, Twinkies are dead,” Limbaugh said.

The kicker?

“But Osama was killed by Obama, and Hostess was killed by the Republicans,” Limbaugh said.