BRONX BATTLE PITS PRIVATE-EQUITY FIRM, STELLA D'ORO UNION(NY Post)

[billyoc]

STRIKING workers at the Stella D'oro Biscuit Com pany in the Bronx claim the private equity owners of the well-known baker are interested in nothing but fat returns on their investment and are slowly squeezing the life out of the city jewel by having inexperience replacement workers produce poor quality cookies as they pursue their profits.

"One of the number one products," Eddie Marrero, a longtime foreman recently said recently about the Swiss Fudge cookies, "It either has no fudge, fudge covering the cookie, cookies stuck together with the fudge, cookies all out of shape."

In an interview with WNYC radio, Marrero and other workers said they cry when they see the products in the store.

Despite the passion -- for 10 months the hearty group of 135 bakers, through freezing rain, snow and more recently, 90-degree heat, haven't let the pickets line have a single day off -- the striking union workers at the 79-year-old Big Apple institution have have produced mixed results in their battle against Brynwood Partners, the private-equity firm which bought the firm three years ago.

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http://www.nypost.com/seven/05102009/business/not_the_original_recipe_168542.htm

[RoccoR5955]

1. It used to be that people wanted to make a living...

...today they want to make a killing!