Noting that immigrant workers are especially vulnerable to abuse as well as racial and ethnic discrimination, Make the Road concludes:

"These unsafe, unfair and illegal practices disproportiona[tely] affect immigrant workers who, according to the 2000 census, make up about two-thirds of the industry’s workforce. These workers are more likely than native-born workers to work in dangerous and low paying jobs like dishwashing or bussing and often find it difficult to move into better jobs (e.g. waiter and bartender) where working conditions are safer and pay is higher."

Bittersweet protest for biscuit workers

Employees at the Stella D'oro cookie factory in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx have spent three seasons on the picket line since collective bargaining negotiations fell apart about half a year ago. The workers, who represent the pastiche of Black and Latino families in the surrounding community, are represented by Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union Local 50. The union is fighting against the slashing of wages and loss of vacation and sick days, as well as "crushing healthcare premiums."

Generations of New Yorkers have grown up on Stella cookies. But the company is no longer the mom-and-pop shop it once was. Brynwood Partners, a Connecticut-based private equity firm that took over the company from Kraft a few years ago, has stubbornly resisted the protests. Keeping with its reputation for union-busting, the management has moved to replace the workers.

Meanwhile, the strikers have found solidarity in a city wracked by economic crisis. Local businesses have pitched in by donating food to the strikers. And workers are encouraging consumers to boycott Stella cookies.

As the standoff wears on, the strikers may face even leaner times ahead, but with the support of other workers facing the same bitter circumstances nationwide, the sweet satisfaction of a fair contract seems worth fighting for.