Workers at all of Kellogg's U.S. cereal plants go on strike

Authored by abcnews.go.com and submitted by binklehoya

Work has halted at all of the Kellogg Company’s U.S. cereal plants as roughly 1,400 workers went on strike

OMAHA, Neb. -- Work at all of the Kellogg Company's U.S. cereal plants came to a halt Tuesday as roughly 1,400 workers went on strike, but it wasn't immediately clear how much 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 an impasse at the bargaining table for more than a year, said Daniel Osborn, president of the local union in Omaha. The dispute involves an assortment of pay and benefit issues such as the loss premium health care, holiday and vacation pay and reduced retirement benefits

“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," said Anthony Shelton, president of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.

The threat to move work to Mexico doesn't sit well 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 said.

The company insists that its offer is fair and would increase wages and benefits for its employees that it said made an average of $120,000 a year last year.

"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 said in a statement.

Osborn said he expects the company to try to bring non-union workers into the plants at some point this week to try to resume operations and maintain the supply of its products.

The company acknowledged that it is "implementing contingency plans" to limit supply disruptions for consumers.

The plants have all continued to operate throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but Osborn said that for much of that time workers were putting in 12-hour shifts, seven days a week to keep up production while so many people were out because of the virus.

“The level we were working at is unsustainable,” Osborn said.

Kellogg’s workers aren’t the first food workers to strike during the pandemic.

Earlier this summer, more than 600 workers at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas, walked off the job to protest working conditions during the pandemic, including forced overtime. That strike ended in July when workers ratified a new contract.

Workers at Nabisco plants in five states went on strike in August to protest plans by Nabisco’s parent, Mondelez International, to move some work to Mexico, among other issues, according to the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which also represents the Kellogg's workers. That strike ended last month when workers ratified a new contract.

Associated Press writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report from Detroit.

noxypaws on October 6th, 2021 at 00:02 UTC »

The plants have all continued to operate throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but Osborn said that for mu ch of that time workers were putting in 12-hour shifts, seven days a week to keep up production while so many people were out because of the virus. “The level we were working at is unsustainable,” Osborn said. Kellogg’s workers aren’t the first food workers to strike during the pandemic. Earlier this summer, more than 600 workers at a Frito-Lay plant in Topeka, Kansas, walked off the job to protest working conditions during the pandemic, including forced overtime. That strike ended in July when workers ratified a new contract

I used to work for a snack food company that forced overtime. 12 hours a day Monday through Friday, then at least 8 hours on Saturday, and every few weeks we'd all have to come in for a full inventory of packaging products, which usually took 13 or more hours.

I was so exhausted and depressed about having absolutely no free time to myself that I started feeling suicidal ideation. One of the production managers died from an undiagnosed brain tumor, surely his chances of detection and survival would have been greater if he wasn't spending every waking fucking moment at the plant.

A flour truck semi driver headed to our plant fell asleep at the wheel on the interstate, died, fucked up traffic for awhile, and surely the chances of that happening would have been less had my employer at the time not been desperately sustaining unsustainable workloads.

Workers had their families fall apart as they weren't home to be with their spouses or kids. Accidents and injuries increased. It was fucking awful, and the very concept of "forced overtime" to this day makes me so deeply, deeply, deeply upset.

My heart goes out to these workers. I'll avoid all Kellogg products for the time being, which is hard cuz I love my frosted mini wheats (though other brands make alternatives that are honestly just fine).

cruznick06 on October 5th, 2021 at 21:35 UTC »

Non-cereal products Kelloggs owns: Bear Naked Inc., Cheez-it, Eggo, Fruit Winders, Kashi, Krave, Morningstar Farms, Club Crackers, Nutrigrain, Pop-Tarts, Pringles, Rxbar, Sunshine Buiscuts, Town House, Zesta Crackers, Carr's, Rice Krispies Treats, Joybol, All-bran, Austin Sandwich Cookies, Gardenburger, Toasteds Crackers, Special K

I didn't do a full list of their cereals as I am on mobile and manually typing this out. Make sure to check the company info on the back of packaging if you're unsure. I'm fairly certain all of their main cereal names (fruit loops, raisin bran, frosted flakes, crispix, ect are listed as Kelloggs Inc on the company contact info).

seanotron_efflux on October 5th, 2021 at 21:31 UTC »

I wonder if we are going to see a lot more strikes than normal over the next few years