Work Halted at All US Cereal Plants – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
Work at all of the Kellogg Company’s U.S. grain mills ceased on Tuesday when some 1,400 workers went on strike, but it was not immediately clear how severely the supply of Frosted Flakes or any of the company’s other iconic brands would be disrupted.
The strike includes plants in Omaha, Nebraska Battle Creek, Michigan; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee.
The union and the Battle Creek-based company have been at a dead end at the negotiating table for more than a year, said Daniel Osborn, president of the local Omaha union. The dispute concerns a number of wage and performance issues such as loss premium health insurance, vacation and vacation pay and reduced pension benefits
“The company continues to threaten to post additional jobs to Mexico if workers don’t embrace outrageous proposals that have removed worker protection for decades,” said Anthony Shelton, president of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.
The threat to relocate work to Mexico doesn’t suit Osborn.
“A lot of Americans probably don’t have much of a problem with the Nike or Under Armor hats being made elsewhere, or even our vehicles, but when they start making our food where it is outside of FDA and OSHA control I “have a huge problem with that,” said Osborn.
The company insists that its offering is fair and would increase wages and benefits for its employees, who grossed an average of $ 120,000 a year over the past year.
“We are disappointed with the union’s decision to go on strike. Kellogg is offering compensation and benefits to our US employees, who are among the best in the business,” Kellogg spokesman Kris Bahner said in a statement.
Osborn said he expected the company will try to bring non-union workers into the factories sometime this week in an attempt to restart operations and maintain supplies of its products.
The company acknowledged that it is “implementing contingency plans” to limit supply disruptions to consumers.
The plants continued to operate throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but Osborn said workers were on 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, for much of that time to keep production going while so many people were out because of the virus .
“The level at which we have worked is not sustainable,” said Osborn.
Kellogg workers are not the first food workers to strike during the pandemic.
Earlier this summer, more than 600 workers at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas quit their jobs to protest working conditions, including forced overtime, during the pandemic. That strike ended in July when workers ratified a new contract.
According to the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which also represents the workers at Kellogg. That strike ended last month when workers ratified a new contract.
Associated Press Writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report from Detroit.
[ad_1]