Stella D'Oro Factory Will Close In 90 Days

Days after a judge ruled that Stella D'Oro, the baked goods company, should reinstate its striking 134 union workers in the Bronx, the company announced it would shut down its Bronx factory. Last week, the judge found that Stella D'Oro did not "bargain in good faith because it did not release its 2007 financial statement," and now the company says it can't make a profit without union concessions. The company said, "The decision to close the Bronx bakery operations has not been made in haste or without significant planning." One resident said to NY1, "Every time I would come by I would smell the aroma of the cookies, of the baking, etc." Related: Patton Oswalt riffed on the Stella D'Oro breakfast treat ads.

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By Jen Chung in News on July 7, 2009 11:15 AM

Comments [rss]

UpperEastSighed

Update:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/strikers-return-to-short-lived-jobs-at-cookie-factory/#more-55473

UpperEastSighed

Do you people have no sarcasm-detection? As if they made $18 to $22/hour and had 9 weeks vacation. Please. They're not SEIU members. :)

This is more like it:

http://socialistworker.org/2009/04/03/standing-strong-at-stella

You know the hedge fund will just open the factory in some other country with less stringent labor laws.

felixthecat2

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/stella-doro-factory-to-close-in-october/?hp

The owners maintained that the hourly wages of $18 to $22 an hour and nine weeks of paid leave made the factory unprofitable. It demanded significant reductions in wages and benefits in order to move the factory to profitability

UpperEastSighed

Oops, I see what you're quoting. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/stella-doro-factory-to-close-in-october/?hp

Damn, I need to be in a union! I make $16/hour and I have a master's degree!

PTG in nyc

which is exactly why unions are BS, because you have a Masters degree and make less. Perhaps they could be profitable and the hedge fund that owns them is just being Grinch-like, but they have every right to be if you ask me.

For all the complaints that people in this country like to point out that we are becoming socialist, it's pretty hypocritical that everyone thinks they can vacation like the French yet toot their capitalistic horn at the same time.

schizofriendly

No more Swiss Fudge cookies?

Stella D'oh!

catsinvasion

stella d'oro was recently purchased from kraft foods by a hedge fund. of course they could be profitable with a union, the truth is the fund itself doesn't give enough of a fuck about their investment to play ball.

ides_of_march

Stupid union marxists just love killing the golden goose.

NannyState

Well, they killed the flavorless biscuit...

Spirit of 76

Unions were useful once upon a time, but now they're just leeches on both companies and their workers. Hope they lose a lot of dues now that their members are jobless.

PTG in nyc

Well said. When workers used to get locked inside for 15 hour shifts in fire hazards, unions made sense. Now they really do just bleed their own employers dry.

9 WEEKS OF VACATION!!!! WTF. China is destined to kick our asses as long as Americans think their hard work deserves that much time off as a reward.

schadenfreudian mensch

I guess you'll be getting your Stella D'oro breadsticks from the Chinese from now on.

Spirit of 76

Don't be ridiculous. They'll be made in Mexico.

felixthecat2

and most likely you will die from tainted cookies made in China.

schadenfreudian mensch

You mean as oppose to dying from eating tainted meat w/E.coli in the U.S., the safest food you can ever get and before you get on my case about being a vegan wasn't there also Salmonella contamination with peanuts as well as pistachio, spinach, etc.