I'm in agreement. I think we need some sort of negotiation rights, but not necessarily full on unions.
Poorly managed company run by greedy exec's+poorly managed union run by greedy union exec's=death of company. How it happens is simple. All the money that should be going into upgrades and improvements goes into the pockets of these people, including the work force. Works great for awhile, but after some time passes the company is so inefficient, and upgrade costs are so steep, there's no way to catch up regardless of how many concessions anyone makes. There is also a culture in these places in which everybody thinks the other guy should do more. They never look at their own lazy asses. I've seen this in one steel mill after another for 30 years running. There are plenty of other industries in the very same boat.
The way I understand this the hedge funds owned plenty of previous company debt, perhaps they wanted to cash out or at least some resemblance of a return. How much money do you want to keep throwing into a black hole?
Plenty of blame to go around. Perhaps employee ownership might work. I'm addressing that issue with one of my companies. Who knows, it's worked for some in the past.
The type of thinking that enables unions to bankrupt their employers is the same kind that dominates the Democrats.. they are doing the same thing at every level of government.
What I've seen work is incentivised, merit pay type structures. The dead beats leave this type of organization rather quickly and you're left with good hard workers. One caveat. These workers must be rewarded. You must actually provide clear path of advancement opportunites for them. If it's only lip service the good help will take their skills down the road. It should also go without saying that you must stay on the cutting edge of whatever technology is pertinent to your business.
I am not gloating. I am pleased that a stupid group of people brought about their downfall. Check your Russian to English dictionary. Saying "Well, they deserved that" is the same thing as saying "that is their fault" (which you said). Go argue semantics with someone else. It's a waste of my time. As for those others who "lost their job", please check into what happens when a company liquidates and is sold to another in the CPG industry. Many of those office folks will keep their job and be absorbed into another CPG company. Some, may not. That is life.
I hope your friend voted for government officials that support right to work legislation. Otherwise, he voted for people that support this type of thing happening. It also makes him a hypocrite. "I don't support the strike at MY company because my job is affected. But I support other unions elsewhere." Horseshit. I'll bet he voted union friendly politicians in and now looks around dumbfounded when he reaps what he sowed. If not, then he got caught up in stupidity and was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that IS unfortunate. Which is he? Your friend will likely be just fine, as the company buying the brands will need infrastructure to run it.