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NEWS & LETTERS, June - July 2009
Stella D'Oro strike
Bronx, N.Y.--The Stella D'Oro bakery workers' march on May 30, from Target on W. 225th Street up Broadway to the Stella D'Oro plant on 237th Street, was the largest to date. The Stella D'Oro strike has dragged on for nine months. The Stella D'Oro Strike Support Committee has been organizing rallies. It meets every Wednesday at 7:00 PM at the Church of the Mediator, 260 West 231st St. Although union leaders have published statements and given money in support of the strikers, they have yet to mobilize their members to show up in large numbers at these marches and rallies.
The plant owners, Brynwood Partners, and the power elite in this city know that this strike has taken on great symbolic importance. The power elite is trying to convince the unions and their members that they have no choice but to bear the brunt of the economic meltdown. This is what is happening to the auto workers, but there are examples that workers will fight back, such as at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago.
New York City UFCW Local 1500 continues the effort to unionize the Agata & Valentina food store on the East Side. Factory takeovers by workers in Argentina, when that economy collapsed, show how powerful workers can be. If the Stella D'Oro workers win, it will be a clarion call to other workers to fight for their rights.
--Tom Siracuse
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