Work at all of Kellogg Co.’s U.S. cereal vegetation got here to a halt Tuesday as 1,400 employees went on strike, nevertheless it wasn’t instantly clear how a lot the provision of Frosted Flakes or any of the corporate’s different well-known manufacturers can be disrupted. Breakfast cereal gross sales have spiked throughout the pandemic, significantly these of older manufacturers that carry nostalgic worth.
The strike consists of Kellogg vegetation in Battle Creek, Michigan; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Memphis, Tennessee; and Omaha, Nebraska.
The union and the Battle Creek-based firm have been at an deadlock at the bargaining desk for greater than a yr, stated Daniel Osborn, president of the native union in Omaha. The dispute includes an assortment of pay and profit points such because the lack of premium well being care, vacation and trip pay, and a discount in retirement advantages.
“The company continues to threaten to send additional jobs to Mexico if workers do not accept outrageous proposals that take away protections that workers have had for decades,” stated Anthony Shelton, president of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Staff and Grain Millers Worldwide Union.
The reported risk to transfer work to Mexico does not sit properly with Osborn.
“A lot of Americans probably don’t have too much issue with the Nike or Under Armor hats being made elsewhere or even our vehicles, but when they start manufacturing our food down where they are out of the FDA control and OSHA control, I have a huge problem with that,” Osborn stated.
The corporate insists that its provide is honest and would improve wages and advantages for its workers that it stated made a mean of $120,000 a yr final yr.
“We are disappointed by the union’s decision to strike. Kellogg provides compensation and benefits for our U.S. ready-to-eat-cereal employees that are among the industry’s best,” Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner stated in a assertion.
Osborn stated he expects the corporate to strive to carry nonunion employees into the vegetation at some level this week to strive to resume operations and preserve the provision of its merchandise.
The corporate acknowledged that it’s “implementing contingency plans” to restrict provide disruptions for shoppers.
The vegetation have all continued to function all through the coronavirus pandemic, however Osborn stated that for a lot of that point employees have been placing in 12-hour shifts, seven days a week to sustain production whereas so many individuals have been out due to the virus.
“The level we were working at is unsustainable,” Osborn stated.
Kellogg’s employees aren’t the primary meals employees to strike throughout the pandemic.
Earlier this summer season, greater than 600 employees at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas, walked off the job to protest working circumstances throughout the pandemic, together with what they known as compelled extra time. That strike resulted in July when employees ratified a new contract.
Staff at Nabisco vegetation in 5 states went on strike in August to protest plans by Nabisco’s guardian, Mondelez Worldwide, to transfer some work to Mexico, amongst different points, in accordance to the identical bakery union that represents the Kellogg’s employees. That strike ended final month when employees ratified a new contract.
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