BREAKING NEWS:  Posted 10/08/09  8:00 p.m.

By Kate Pastor

The Stella D’oro factory in Kingsbridge has closed its doors to workers for the last time.

A labor dispute that has lasted more than a year ended with workers finishing their shifts in the middle of Thursday afternoon, gathering their belongings and being shown out.

The union, which represents bakers, packers, mechanics and others at the plant, walked out more than a year ago, after negotiations with the private equity firm that owns the factory and the brand broke down.

Connecticut-based Brynwood Partners, which has owned Stella since 2006, asked employees, who are members of Local 50 of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, to take cuts in both wages and benefits, claiming that the factory wasn’t able to turn a profit with the current costs.

While the factory workers stood outside day and night, in sun, snow and rain, no new negotiations took place. In July workers were told they had won a battle, when Brynwood was declared to have negotiated in bad faith by the National Labor Relation’s Board. Workers were ordered reinstated to the factory.

Brynwood responded as they had long said they would. They announced the factory would shut for good in three months, October.

They were as good as their word.

The Stella D’oro company, which has made cookies in Kingsbridge for nearly 80 years, was sold to North Carolina-based Lance Inc. Lance Inc. makes snacks and sells them all over the United States.

The company plans to move operations from Kingsbridge to Ashland, Ohio, where there is no union.

There will be a rally at the factory on Friday, at 3 p.m.