well, this is a corporate game of chicken - the unions place a bet that the company will not want to close itself and to cut loses will agree to the terms of the union or at least will negotiate... the Hostess took a very bold move, akin to a Russian roulette - just to prove a point (and I am sure, there were compelling financial reasons as well), the company just folded and unions got no opponent to fight with (a victory equivivalent to a loss!!!)...

to be honest, even though i totally understand the point of the unions in the effort to protect the workers, i really applaud the bold move of the company... lol...