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Stella D'Oro, the local makers of cookies and breadsticks that you used to be able to take almost anywhere, has been sold and is leaving its longtime home up in the Bronx. Earlier this summer, workers of the Kingsbridge cookie factory were put on a roller coaster ride when a judge ruled in their favor of their yearlong strike only to be told by owners Brynwood Partners that the court's costly decision was prompting a shutting down of the factory. Workers demanded that Brynwood sell Stella D'Oro so that operations could continue and the company complied...only to have new owners Lance Inc inform them the new jobs would be about 500 miles west in Ohio. Following the news, the union released a statement saying, "We weren't wrong in what we did. What's wrong is that the law allows companies to sell off its business in order to avoid a judgment of the law." Well, at least 75 years of baking cookies and a hardfought labor battle aren't all for naught—Lance Inc says Stella D'Oro is "a perfect fit in with the niche brand strategy that we have."
Stella D'Oro Sale Means Black & White Flight Out of the Bronx
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800 miles west would be Indiana, not Ohio. Weird that the story didn't say what city in Ohio.
Stupid unions. If they are so sure they could run the plant with high NY taxes and their high wages / kickbacks to the union bosses, THEY should have outbid the other buyer and bought it themselves.
The fact that they didn't speaks VOLUMES.
So you oppose unions.
I guess that means you are opposed to the 40 hour week.
And the weekend.
And child labor being illegal.
And employee health insurance plans.
And pensions.
And time and a half pay for overtime.
And I could go on....
Basically, the alternative to unions is Calcutta-style sweatshops - is that what you want?
"Basically, the alternative to unions is Calcutta-style sweatshops - is that what you want?"
WHAT BS.
You didn't even TRY and answer the primary question. If the union thought they could make money off it and still pay "union wages", & NY taxes, why didn't THEY buy it?
The alternative to the free market is communism. is that what YOU want?
Exactly - The Unions still only care about their own fortunes and poltical power and they dont give a shit about the average working man. They have been scamming their members for years. How many other NY landmark businesses will go under due their shortsightedness and stupidity...
All I know is that once you allow the UNIONS to oil their way into your business you lose ultimately lose control of your own business plan...You can fire non-productive people who want a free ride and you are forced into entering ridiculous wages and benefit contracts that dont synch up with market producitivity. I think we would better off without them...It is quite apparent that GREGORYABUTLER is a Union delegate or Union Member that is used to getting benefits without much effort. Times are Changing UNIONLOVER...
I guess I won't be buying these anymore.
Yet another great reason to get rid of unions. Now if we could just start with the state, teachers and transit....
Yet another advocate of sweatshop labor!
So, you'd cheerfully work for your boss for a dollar an hour, like they do in Mexico or China?
Because, on the real, without unions, that's exactly what we'd have here!
Completely untrue. Any student of economics can tell you that the unions are a huge market inefficiency. The markets will well balance themselves in the supply and cost of labor. Similar reasons hold for eliminating the mess of minimum wage.
Sadly, it's the consumer and American taxpayer left to pay the overprices and over-benefited unions. Their gain at our expense.
My firsthand knowledge of unions came while working at Ford. An utter disaster is the UAW. In a 40 hour week you were lucky to get 1 hour of work done (no exaggeration!). Of course, they were waiting for the weekend so they could get paid double time. And try to fire any of them? haha. Oh, and no time clocks so most every went to the bar for the day.
For the enlightened, pay attention to the mammoth pension liabilities wrought by the state unions. MTA anyone? Who has pensions anymore in the private sector?
Outlaw any type of unions is the way to go.
workers and unions should have brought the company out right if they think they are making that much money!!! but problem with those guys are. they don't put their money where their mouths are.
You're assuming the union cared about the company. Since when have unions ever cared? All they're interested in are membership dues. Well, they won't be getting any more of those around here, either. Go ahead, guys, kill another few geese that give you your golden eggs.
You have to love the union still complaining about "scare tactics." Hey, smart guys, someone pointing a gun at you is a scare tactic. If they actually pull the trigger, it's not a scare tactic anymore.
What about the scumbags at Brynwood Partners - the private equity profiteers who brought the firm from Nabisco just to squeeze every last penny out of the operation before wringing it out to dry, destroying it and selling off the trademarks to the highest bidder?
THEY destroyed Stella D'oro - the union and the workers fought to save it!
None of you braying anti union harpies ever mention the REAL reason America's economy is in the toilet - the parasitic Wall Street scumbags!
I'm going to go way out here. The plant is being moved because there's no work ethic left in the neighborhood. I'll bet the new owners saw lateness and absenteeism that could only exist in a corrupt union environment. They're not going to have that big a problem in Ohio. They will also have a more reasonable payroll and better production from people who want to work.
If you're going "way out," it begs the question--have you ever actually been to Kingsbridge?
I've lived here five years. In five years, I've met enough people to not only call your accusation baseless, but offensive as it comes from a place of either ignorance, or the inability to keep half-baked ideas to yourself.
I'm going to go "way out" myself and make an assumption that you saw our neighborhood was in The Bronx, and just assumed the neighborhood is poor and uneducated. You'd be just as wrong.
Next time you have a thought, perhaps you should back it up with some sort of logic. While I never supported the strike, I'm rather offended that you've questioned my work ethic as a resident of Kingsbridge, who holds two degrees and has had a steady job within a white-collar industry since the day I graduated.
I'd ask you kindly to think before insulting people whom you've never met--who have nothing to do with a misguided strike. The internet could use someone who does this--why not start a trend?
I stand by my statement.
Anti Union Idiot
They had a hard working labor force who demanded to be paid what they are worth nothing more and nothing less - and now, the greedhead private equity scum from Brynwood Partners will destroy this old neighborhood business and move it across country to find cheap labor.
You're living in a dream world.
American law (so far) still allows for private ownership of property. An owner can sell a business or shut it down. The Unions want a country where a judge can force an owner to run a business unprofitably for the benefit of others.
Have they considered moving to Cuba or Venezuela?
Actually, America would be a much better place if this country's industry was run by the workers who actually produce the goods and services, instead of corporate fat cats, who just feed off the labor of those who actually do the work.
Have you all taken the Capitalism Stupid Pill? Unions are there to protect the workers from exploitation. You want us to have 3rd world labor market standarts. You want the factory bosses to squeeze every calorie of energy from its workers without any protection or fair wages? Get real. The Bottom line should not be cost saving but life style saving, ie. how do the people live.
Only united do the working calls have a chance at a decent life. Otherwise it's 16 hour days, unsafe conditions, no medicine, no mercy.
Good lord. Do those poor people in Ohio know what's coming their way?
I'm sure their lawmakers will crow about their success in bringing jobs to their community.
I'm also sure that those jobs will be sour grapes in as little as five years.
There is a reason for moves like these, and it generally has to with the top of the food chain- not the bottom.
There are little things called labor laws which prevent that from happening. Sure the unions were pivotal in making these laws, but their time has passed.
Longacre, in the real world, labor laws are toothless and rarely enforced:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/us/02wage.html?_r=1&hp
If it wasn't for unions, nobody would look out for the working person, because the government sure as hell won't do it!
I didn't even know that these tasteless, stale, wooden cookies still existed. Have you ever had a Stella D'Oro ? It's like chewing on a Duraflame Log. They are so 80's.... Guarantee there are Menudo posters hanging in the factory.
I'm confused. Is GREGORYBUTLER pro- or anti-union?
I hear a lot these days about corporate greed. Well, here's a classic case of union greed.
Well done fellas. Another golden goose slaughtered.
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-10_surprising_minimum_wage_jobs-969
I don't know why we don't just raise the minimum wage to take care of the work force. If the economy can't create enough jobs, we lower it again. What's unfair about Stella is that its workers thought they should get $20 an hour, full healthcare, pension and nine weeks vacations (wow) for high-school drop-out level work. A starting EMT, on average only makes about $9 per hour. If we are saying high-school drop outs ought to make that kind of pay package, than they should make it everywhere, regardless of union representation. Unions did do some good things in the past, but I think we are involved enough to stop true sweat shop practices through federal legislation.