The Stella D'Oro baked goods factory in the Bronx has been closed for over a year and a half ever since negotiations with its workers broke down and turned into a bitter strike. According to Mike Filippou, who was Stella D'Oro's lead mechanic, at least 100 of the 135 people who lost their jobs in June 2009 are still out of work. But the workers will get a chance to play themselves in an upcoming HBO documentary about the strike.
The film, titled "No Contract, No Cookies," was made by Emmy award-winners Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill, nominated for a 2010 Oscar for their film "China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province." The two taped the striking workers on and off the picket line for months. "Jon and I are both New Yorkers and Stella D'oro was a New York factory. [The strike] was a story that we felt needed to be told," said O'Neill. It could be on HBO as soon as this summer, which would bring some much-needed attention to the out of work strikers. "People are living on unemployment...They can't pay their rent. They were chasing the American dream and it became a nightmare," said Filippou.
Eddie Marrero of Kingsbridge, a former Stella D'Oro foreman who worked for the company for 30 years, told the News about his current situation. "I keep busy at home. I take my wife to work and pick her up. I do the laundry and the cooking. But our savings are gone. I have no health insurance. It's hard...When you're 51 years old, they don't want you," he said.
