Workers shudder over Stella D'oro cookie factory shuttering in the Bronx

Daily News. ^ | September 11th 2009 | Mike Jaccarino

[Leisler]

Workers at the Stella D'oro cookie factory in the Bronx were still in shock Thursday as the news sunk in that the business had been sold and was moving to Ohio.

They wondered how they'd pay their rents and mortgages, how they'd find another job in today's recession and what they'd do without health insurance.

"My family is going to suffer," said Evelyn Rivera, a packer at the plant for the past two years. "This is so sad. The company has been here for more than 70 years."

Machine operator Juan Torres, 51, said he doesn't know if he'll have the money for his 17-year-old son, Francis, to start college next year.

"There is nothing to pay for anything," Torres said.

Connecticut-based private equity firm Brynwood Partners announced Wednesday it is selling the popular Italian cookie and breadstick baker to snackfood maker Lance Inc.

The Kingsbridge plant will close at the end of the month.

Workers, who already went through a long, bitter strike that ended in July, trudged out at the end of the day's shift Thursday with hangdog faces and tales of heartbreak.

Rivera said she cannot afford the $1,200 to $1,600 monthly health insurance payments available through her union, Local 50 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.

"I guess I will go like everyone else on unemployment. Imagine this: 138 people out on the street."

George Kahssay, 51, a plant worker for 22 years, has two children in college.

"They're going to have to skip a few semesters," he said. "I've already sold my car and cleaned out my life savings during the strike. There is nothing left for them or myself and my wife. Obviously, they'll have to get a loan."

He and his wife will also go without health insurance.

"But we will just pray to God that we do not get sick."

After Brynwood bought Stella D'oro from Kraft Foods in 2006, it demanded sharp cuts in wages and benefits. Union workers went on strike in August 2008.

The strike ended in July when a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Brynwood had negotiated in bad faith with Local 50 and ordered it to pay lost wages and benefits. Brynwood then said it would have to sell the firm.

Alem Fese, 58, a mixer at the plant for 27 years, said she has a $1,500-a-month mortgage and hasn't written a résumé in nearly three decades.

"Who's going to hire me?" she asked. "I don't know what I'm going to do. Really."

[classified]

Well anything is possible! The rule of law is gone. Obama and his Union communist thugs have taken over.

[montag813]

"There is nothing to pay for anything," Torres said.

That's what you get for joining a union. No sympathy you stupid creep. The greedy union scum killed these jobs.

[Popman]

Yeah, my heart bloods.

From what I read in previous articles about this strike and closing. The avg. wage was $22.00 an hour, 9 weeks vacation and personal days plus benefits.

The company was losing money and asked for a 20 % cut in pay and reduced vacation time after the Union contract ran out (that fact is almost never reported)

The factory was purchased from Kraft Foods in 2006 by a takeover firm, Brynwood Partners, and Brynwood lost no time in demanding huge pay cuts and other concessions once the Union's contract expired July 31. Brynwood wants the 136 Bronx mothers, fathers, and grandmothers who work at Stella Doro to accept reduced wages and pay out an additional $1.32 per hour for health insurance. Brynwood's proposal cuts vacation benefits, eliminates sick time, and removes four holidays.

http://stelladorostrike2008.com/

[NoKoolAidforMe]

First of all, the governor can’t read any bill that’s put in front of him.

To prevent an MTA fare hike, there was a backroom deal that socked a .34% payroll tax on all employers within NYC and seven surrounding counties. It doesn’t matter if you don’t use the MTA, you still pay the tax.

[Above My Pay Grade]

Another case of a union trying to bully management into way above market wages, but cutting it own thread instead.

I’m going to buy some Stella D’oro Breakfast Treats tonight (They are great when dunked in coffee or hot chocolate) and maybe some Swiss Fudge cookies.

[chris_bdba]

What did they think was going to happen when they play hardball with the union? You just can’t do that in a tight economy people. Would’ve been better just to keep woriing at the same wage instead of striking and losing everything!

[Neets]

I am aware of that...as is seen on my recent registration renewal “statement”...I’m more than midly pissed.

[Richard Kimball]

How’s that hopey changey thing working out for ya?

[NoKoolAidforMe]

We are being taxed into oblivion.

It’s a shame. I used to drive past Stella D’Oro’s every morning and open my car window in the middle of winter just to smell those cookies.

[chris_bdba]

Southeast Ohio sure could use the work! Unemployment is 12.9%$ here and gets higher as you go south. Wages in this area for food factories usually are around $7-$8 an hour.

[Neets]

It is.

A lot of the old time smells have left New York.

I know that sounds odd but we used to have bakeries on just about every block up here.

Now I can count on one hand, the number of bakeries in a 60 mile radius of my house.

[NoKoolAidforMe]

You are so right. With the exception of Arthur Avenue, there are no on-premise baking bakeries. There are no butcher stores either. I used to live near this fantastic German butcher shop that made it’s own cold cuts and bacon.

Those were the good old days.

[hdbc]

I bet most of these out of work union members are obongo voters. Somehow, I can’t muster much sympathy for these idiots.

[Sir_Ed]

My girlfriend just came back from Brooklyn, after visiting her father, and she said her favorite bakeries are all closing down, the employees are all Hispanics who don’t speak English, there’s no Italians anywhere, just Chinese and Arabs...she said I wouldn’t recognize Bay Ridge.

She brought back some ribbon cookies from what was once the best bakery in Brooklyn, and they were stale, and used different ingredients than they used to. her aunt says it’s because there’s no more Italians to buy the cookies anymore.

Sad...

Ed

[from occupied ga]

"Who's going to hire me?" she asked. "I don't know what I'm going to do. Really."

Burger King is hiring.

[packrat35]

Workers, who already went through a long, bitter strike that ended in July, trudged out at the end of the day's shift Thursday with hangdog faces and tales of heartbreak.

How's that hope and change thing working for ya fellas?

[Neets]

My last family trip to Brooklyn was probably a good 40 or more years ago. My grandparents lived there and we would spend at least every other weekend visiting them.

I can’t even imagine what it looks like now, nor do I want to see it.

I treasure those childhood memories, especially more so as time goes on.

[Sir_Ed]

Her Uncle loved the Brooklyn Dodgers, and he used to talk about how it broke his heart when they moved to LA.

Ed

[buccaneer81]

True. Marietta or Logan would be good locations.

[mylife]

Looky here...The strike was organized by Commie labor....