No Contract, No Cookies: The Stella D'oro Strike

Stella D’oro, a cookie-and-biscuit factory in the Bronx, was founded by an Italian-American family in 1930. By the early 2000s it employed some 138 union workers from 22 different countries, and despite becoming a large company with a well-known brand, it maintained a small entrepreneurial sentiment. Employees were treated like family and, in turn, they treated one another the same way. In 2006, Stella D’oro was bought by Brynwood Partners, a private-equity firm that buys and sells small companies. When the factory bakers’ contract was up for renewal in 2008, Brynwood demanded wage cuts of up to 30%, and the workers went on strike. At the beginning of this film, they had already been on strike for eight months. “No Contract, No Cookies!” is their battle cry.Show more