Kellogg’s Workers at All Cereal Plants Go on Strike, Demand Better Wages and Benefits
Boxes of Kellogg's cereals including Froot Loops, Cocoa Krispies and Raisin Bran are seen at a store in Arlington, Virginia, December 1, 2016. - Kellogg's is facing a boycott organized by the Trump-aligned Breitbart News after the cereal giant decided to pull its advertising from the website. In the latest clash over corporate marketing and politics, Breitbart called on its readers to stop buying Kellogg's products to protest the company's "act of discrimination and intense prejudice." SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Around 1,400 Kellogg's workers went on strike to demand a fair contract from the cereal company.

The company did not immediately say how much of the supply would be disrupted as work at all of the Kellogg Company's cereal plants came to a halt Tuesday due to the strike, NPR reported.

Plants in Battle Creek, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; Memphis, Tennessee; and Lancaster, Pennsylvania had joined the strike.

Why Kellogg's Workers Go on Strike

Daniel Osborn, president of the local union in Omaha, said the union and the U.S. cereal company have been at an impasse in the bargaining table for over a year.

The dispute between the workers and Kellogg's involves pay and benefits issues such as losing the premium health care, reducing retirement benefits, as well as holiday and vacation pay.

Anthony Shelton, president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, said the Froot Loops cereal maker continues to threaten to send additional jobs to Mexico if workers do not accept the proposals.

Shelton noted that the proposals are taking away protections that workers have had for decades. According to Reuters, Kellogg's argued its compensation and benefits for its employees were among the best in the industry.

Kellogg's spokesperson Kris Bahner said they are disappointed by the union's move on their proposal, saying that the offer has increased pay and benefits. The company also insisted that its employees made an average of $120,000 a year last year.

Osborn said that he expects the company to bring non-union workers into the plants this week in trying to resume operations and maintain the products' supply.

Meanwhile, the company noted that it is imposing some of its contingency plans, including internal and third-party resources, to limit supply disruptions.

Food Companies Amid The Pandemic

Kellogg's is among food manufacturing plants that continued to operate amid the pandemic. For most of that time, Osborn noted that workers were put in 12-hour shifts for the whole week to keep up with the production.

Osborn said the level they were working at was unsustainable. Reuters reported that the union had used what appeared to be an angry version of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes mascot in their posters. It was called Tony the Tiger.

The union asked people to join the picket, with images on social media showing some workers holding banners outside the plants.

Osborn said the company had an idea on how long they would conduct the strike, adding that they would stand fast for as long as they had to. He noted that the strike had gone more than 18 hours already.

In a statement, Shelton said his union stands in solidarity with those who are on strike, The New York Times reported. The same union has also gone on strike against Mondelez International over proposed changes to shift lengths and overtime rules.

The weekslong strike, which recently ended, has affected three bakeries and three small sales distribution facilities, with around a thousand workers joining the strike, according to Mondelez.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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