Vol. 72/No. 49      December 15, 2008

Some 136 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 50 walked off the job August 13. The cookie factory is owned by Brynwood Partners, which wants about half of the workforce to accept a $1 an hour wage cut each year over the next five years, loss of health coverage, and to give up 12 sick days each year. The workers are also being asked to give back one week of vacation and eight holidays.

Michael Filippou, union representative at the plant, said, while picketing November 18, that for weeks leading up to the deadline he and other members of the union “went around explaining to everyone what the company wanted, and why we couldn’t accept that contract.” By cutting wages for less skilled workers, but not for mechanics or electricians, the company hoped to pit workers against each other.

The company’s efforts to sap strikers’ morale have also failed. Incidents of harassment include being told by New York City cops to get rid of their picket tent and chairs. “Picketing is supposed to be moving, not just sitting down,” one cop said. Even umbrellas and knitting needles are not allowed on the line since the cops claim they can be used as weapons.

With cold weather now setting in, picketers are not permitted to have open fires either. They had a grill for the first two months and barbecued food donated by a local food cooperative. Strikers have not let themselves be provoked by these and similar moves.

The company has hired some 40 strikebreakers to work in the plant.

Many of the strikers have worked at Stella D’oro for more than 20 years—for some this is their second or third strike there.

A class-action hiring discrimination lawsuit brought against the company was settled in 1992. Workers who were discriminated against got jobs in the plant as well as a monetary settlement.

The workforce includes workers from Poland, Guatemala, Ghana, Ecuador, Cuba, Ethiopia, Greece, the Dominican Republic, and the former Yugoslavia. Most of the workers are women.

Emelia Dorsu, originally from Ghana, was the first Black worker hired at the company. That was in 1979 and she attributes her hiring to the beginning of the lawsuit. Speaking at the Militant Labor Forum November 14 Dorsu noted a number of the workers are single mothers. “If the company wins, how could you feed your children, pay rent, and other bills?”

Addressing the company’s wage demand, Dorsu said, “If you’re making $14 an hour now, at the end of the five-year contract—we also want a much shorter contract—you’ll be making $9 an hour.”

During an impromptu rally November 20, picket captain Oscar Hernández told pickets and supporters, “Everything we have—wages, health insurance, our pension plan—we got it through fights.” Hernández thanked Maura DeLuca who presented a donation of $332 on behalf of those attending the Militant Labor Forum.

“Through the strike I’ve learned that this is not a selfish fight just for ourselves,” striker Sara Rodríguez said. “We’re fighting for others too. Most important, we’re fighting to keep our union.”  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home