Stella D'oro Strike

On August 13, 2008, more than 130 workers at the Stella D’oro Biscuit Co. factory went on strike, launching what would become one of the longest and hardest-fought labor battles in recent New York City History.

The decision to strike came after months of deadlocked contract negotiations between the workers’ union and Brynwood Partners, the Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity firm which purchased Stella D’oro from Kraft in 2006. (Stella D’oro was a family-owned business from its founding in the early 1930s until 1992.)

Claiming that it couldn’t continue to operate the cookie plant profitably without steep concessions from the workforce, Brynwood’s demands included pay cuts of as much as 25% over five years. Under this plan, a position that paid $35,000 a year in 2009 would drop to $26,000 by 2014.

Negotiations ultimately collapsed due to Brynwood’s refusal to provide the union with the financial documentation it needed to verify the necessity of the concessions. The Stella workers said they couldn’t accept the company’s proposed concessions without evidence of their necessity.

The Stella workers’ union, Local 50 of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union, filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in September 2008 accusing Brynwood of refusing to negotiate in good faith. The union also called for a consumer boycott of Stella D’oro products, which were being manufactured by scores of strike-breakers willing to work at 20 percent lower cost.

Brynwood successfully stalled the adjudication of the union’s unfair labor practice charge for months. The strikers, meanwhile, eked by on unemployment and $105 a week paid out of Local 50’s strike fund. Many went into debt.

Click here for the latest news on the Stella D’oro strike.

TEXT: SARAH SECUNDA

LINKS:
Photo #1: Riverdale Press
Photo #12: Riverdale Press
Photo #13: New York Daily News, The Indypendent, Democracy Now!

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