Support Striking BCTGM Local 50 Stella D'Oro Workers!

Despite the economic crisis they brought on, the speculators are still at it, attacking the living standards of working families.

The Connecticut-based predatory private equity firm Brynwood Partners, which owns Stella D'Oro Biscuit Co., walked out of contract negotiations with BCTGM Local 50 on August 13, 2008. In response, the workers struck. Since then, BCTGM Local 50 workers at Stella D'Oro have been holding strong at the picket lines outside the Stella D'oro Bakery in the Bronx, New York.

The owners are seeking to slash wages by as much as 25%, do away with Saturday overtime and impose a new, crushing, 20% employee contribution to worker health care benefits. They also are insisting on eliminating four holidays, one week of vacation, and all paid sick days.

Soon after the workers struck, Brynwood "permanently replaced" them.

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board has issued a formal complaint that Brynwood/Stella D'Oro management refused to provide the union with the information it needed to bargain. That complaint is pending.

Please, email the owners of Stella D'Oro Biscuit Co. and let them know that you find it unconscionable they have forced their workers out on the street, in a strike which is a last resort at fair negotiations. 

Thank you for your support of BCTGM Local 50 workers.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Return to the Bargaining Table - Put Stella D'Oro Workers Back to Work!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Since August 2008, the 136 workers of Stella D'Oro Biscuit Company have been standing up for what they believe: a fairly negotiated, union contract with decent pay and benefits.

I am writing to urge Brynwood Partners to do the right thing: to go back to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith a union contract that will preserve the living standards of your loyal employees. Put them back to work!

The National Labor Relations Board has formally complained that your company, Stella D'Oro, failed to provide the union representing the workforce with the information needed to bargain effectively. Breaking the law is no way to boost profits. Neither is stripping long time employees of their hard earned income and benefits.

Stella D'Oro employees have been committed and dedicated to the company for their entire careers - so please return to the bargaining table and give them what they deserve -- a fair union contract.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
June 09, 2009


Background Information

Generations of New Yorkers grew up with and loved Stella D'Oro cookies, once an iconic, national, premium Italian-style biscuit brand.

When Brynwood Partners in 2006 took over the Stella D'Oro factory in the Bronx, the Wall Street private equity firm had every reason to believe it would be easy to slash the wages, pensions, holidays and sick pay of the 136 bakery workers.

But they forgot one important fact: The workers are represented by a union, BCTGM Local 50. And throughout their more than nine-month strike, the workers have been strongly supported by their union brothers and sisters and by members of the community as they walk the picket line every day outside the plant where Brynwood now employs strikebreakers.

The saga of Stella is part of an all-too-familiar story of what has become of our American Dream--a Dream deflated, busted and broken by unfettered corporate greed. Originally a family-owned firm, Stella was acquired by RJR Nabisco, then taken over by Kraft when RJR Nabisco broke up. Stella was run into the ground by its corporate overseers, then dumped to private equity in 2006 when Kraft, under pressure from Wall Street, began to dispose of "non-core" assets.

The wealthy speculators at Brynwood are looking to make huge profits by slashing wages and benefits. Middle-income working Americans are to be plunged into poverty so the predators who brought our economy to its knees can make another killing.

Vicky is one of those working Americans in the predators cross hairs. She has 28 years on the job baking Stella D'Oro cookies. She began work at Stella D'oro at age 20. In August, she decided she had to take a stand. Now she has no paycheck coming in, nor any health benefits. Still, Vicky and her co-workers walk the strike lines at West 237th and Broadway every day, defying the financial chieftains who, after the union contract expired July 31, 2008, demanded reduced wages, fewer paid holidays and an additional $1.32 on average per hour per worker to maintain health insurance coverage.

Local 50 members have been joined on the picket lines by nurses, staff at the City University of New York, textile workers and many others. The New York State Teachers Union recently presented the workers with $2,500 for their strike fund.

The workers have taken their struggle to the luxurious offices of Brynwood Partners in Greenwich, Conn., and to the home of Brynwood Partners and Stella D’oro Chairman Hendrik Hartong III, son of Henk Hartong Jr., former Pittston coal CEO and Brynwood founder. The struggle continues and the strikers need you help.

If you're in New York, stop by the picket lines. Or you can take action to support the striking workers by sending an e-mail to Henk Hartong and Brynwood Partners at huppsv@brynwoodpartners.com or info@brynwoodpartners.com. Tell them to go back to the bargaining table and negotiate a fair agreement to preserve the living standards of their loyal employees.