‘Cereal’ killers
Factory workers’ strike brings Kellogg’s to a halt
Production at Kellogg’s US cereal plants has ground to a halt as the company’s roughly 1,400 factory workers went on a nationwide strike over pay and benefits issues, as well as alleged threats from the company to move production overseas.
The Battle Creek, Mich., breakfast giant said it’s “implementing contingency plans” in order to keep grocery store shelves stocked with Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops and other iconic company brands.
The strike includes factories in Omaha, Neb., Battle Creek, Mich., Lancaster, Pa., and Memphis, Tenn., according to the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which represents the plant workers.
“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,” union president Anthony Shelton said Tuesday evening.
Contract talks have stalled for more than a year, Daniel Osborn of the Ohama union chapter told the AP.
“A lot of Americans probably don’t have too much issue with the Nike or Under Armoor 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 said.
He added he expects the company to try to recruit non-union workers, this week to restart operations.
Kellogg’s insists it treats its workers fairly and its contract offer would increase wages and benefits.
“We are disappointed by the union’s decision to strike. Kellogg provides compensation and benefits for our US ready-to-eat-cereal employees that are among the industry’s best,” company rep Kris Bahner said in a statement.
Osborn, though, said that during the pandemic, workers have been putting in 12hour shifts seven days a week to keep up production.
Elsewhere amid the pandemic, Nabisco-plant workers in five states went on strike in August to protest plans by parent company Mondelez International to move some jobs to Mexico, among other issues.
And 600 workers at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kan., walked off the job, claiming they had to keep working even when someone died on duty.