A recent article in the Belleville News-Democrat caught my attention, "Hostess will close three bakeries." Want to know why? Once again union leaders flexed their ever-persistent but mostly pesky muscle, trying to show they still have the power to bring companies to their knees, but again, they got punched in the proverbial gut.

Well, well, now the union's infamous leaders, (if they want Hostess to stay in St. Louis), will have to get on their knees. The article further stated, "Hostess warned, earlier in the month, the strike could cause plant closings and possibly entire company closure if work stoppages continue to spread."

Unions are on life support and waning due to their inability to comprehend. Strong-armed approaches are no longer a winning tactic.

It's sad. Union leaders can't see, or maybe just don't care about the people who are hurt the most by these senseless moves. In the end, it's the workers who'll suffer.

I guess that's why politics and unions walk hand in hand, because they share the same ideology: power hustling. It amazes me how unions can still convince people to follow them over that inevitable cliff, into the vast unemployment gorge.

As I've said in the past, at one time unions were a true friend of the worker, but that was long ago. Oh well, I guess it's also still true: It's possible to repair ignorance, but you can't fix stupid.

Dennis Rodenhofer

Swansea