Aug 16, 2009 7:41 am US/Eastern
Bronx Stella D'Oro Cookie Factory Closing Down
Workers Say Owners Are Retaliating For 10-Month Strike
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Stella D'Oro workers say the decision to close the factory, after eight decades, is a blatant case of retaliation for a strike they had waged for ten months.
CBS
Workers at the Stella D'Oro plant in the Bronx rallied Saturday to fight for their jobs.
They say the owners' decision to close the factory this fall is a clear case of union-busting.
Stella D'Oro workers say the decision to close the factory, after eight decades, is a blatant case of retaliation for a strike they had waged for ten months, and the thought that all 138 union jobs could be eliminated is a shock to them.
"We have people who have made their whole living, and their life, out of Stella D'Oro," employee Eddie Marrero said. "I'm an example – I've been here 30 years. Everything I have, I owe it to Stella D'Oro."
Earlier this summer, the National Labor Relations Board had forced the company to take back the workers.
But Stella D'Oro's owner, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based private equity firm Brynwood Partners – run by Harvard MBA's Hendrik Hartong, Jr. and his son Hendrik Hartong III – responding by announcing that the factory will close in October and production will move elsewhere.
"For an investment company to come in and say, 'we have to give better returns to our investors, and the way we do that is by destroying your lives,' there's something wrong with that," Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, of the Stella D'Oro Solidarity Committee, said.
Brynwood, which says it has not been able to make the company consistently profitable, has said its decision was not made in haste.
Workers are now left asking the company to reconsider.
"Sit down and give us a fair and decent contract, and just keep the factory open so we can keep workers in the Bronx," union representative Calvin Williams said.
The workers say it's far more than their livelihoods that are at stake. They say removing the factory would be like cutting out a part of the Bronx.
"This plant here is a landmark, it's a landmark of the Bronx," worker Michael Filippou said. "It's like Yankee Stadium."
"Every time I drove up, the aroma of the baking of cookies gets me hungry, even now," Bronx native Marcia Aronson said. "Stella D'Oro is the Bronx."
At a time when the City and the Bronx need to keep as many jobs as they can, this seems like a cruel blow to many.
CBS 2 has reached out to Stella D'Oro's corporate owners for comment, but has not yet received a response.
CBS 2's John Metaxas contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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