On Strike Since October 5 Kellogg Workers Persist in
Saying No to Concessions
Striking Kellogg's workers in Lancaster, PA, November 8, 2021.
Kellogg workers remain on the picket line,
demanding an end to a
two-tier wage system imposed in 2015 that forces many to work for much
lower pay and few benefits. Some 1,400 workers walked off the job
October 5 in Battle Creek, Michigan; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Memphis,
Tennessee; and Omaha, Nebraska. The workers have gotten
broad support, including a rally of hundreds October 27 at Kellogg
headquarters in Battle Creek. Workers at Kellogg, like Nabisco and Frito-Lay whose
workers also struck this year, are part of the Bakery Confectionery
Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union. Though relatively
small (about 65,000 in total) the union has now organized strikes
involving thousands against three major monopolies, all involving
forced overtime and two-tier wage and benefit structures. Kellogg is
currently demanding further cuts to health care benefits, pensions,
holiday and vacation pay, cost of living raises and union jobs. The
company also wants to eliminate pensions for all future workers.
In
2015, the company threatened to close one of its four plants and
then imposed a two-tier system, where 30 per cent of the workforce was
considered "transitional" while the remaining 70 percent were
designated as regular, full-time employees. "Transitional" workers make
roughly $12 less per hour than other full-time employees, with higher
insurance premiums, less vacation time, and no retirement benefits. In
accepting the concession, workers thought they would transition to
regular status but this has not occurred. Now they are striking to
demand elimination of the two-tier system and defend pensions for all.
In addition all the workers have regularly been pushed to work
twelve-to-sixteen-hour days, seven days a week, with no holidays or
vacation time. The pandemic has brought even greater demands for
increased production of cereals like Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies,
Frosted Flakes, and Froot Loops.
With the current strike, workers are rejecting demands by Kellogg to
force younger and newer workers doing the same work into worse
conditions -- something many of the monopolies are imposing. The tiers
are a means to divide workers and weaken the union but workers are
refusing more concessions and taking their stand. As one worker
put it, "We are out here fighting against the two-wage system and for
the next generation of workers to have the same pay and benefits."
Nabisco Workers Strike: 'There's More of Us Than There Are of Them'
Nabisco workers were on strike for a month in August and like many
workers faced threats of closure and cuts to healthcare. Already two
plants were moved to Mexico and two closed earlier this year in Fair
Lawn, New Jersey, and Atlanta, Georgia. In the just settled set of
negotiations, Nabisco was demanding a two-tier health care plan and
putting workers on three 12-hour shifts, including for weekends, with
no overtime pay (which is currently time-and-a-half on Saturday and
double-time on Sunday). The workers refused. Nabisco immediately cut
off their healthcare, now a common tactic against strikers. But the
workers stood firm. They were able to block the two-tier healthcare
plan and keep overtime pay and existing work schedules for current
workers. As well employer contributions to workers' 401(k) plans (a
retirement savings vehicle) will be doubled. Nabisco will however be
able to schedule three 12-hours shifts on weekends which new workers
will be required to work without overtime pay.
The demand for 12-hour shifts with no overtime was a key issue,
especially given that most are forced into overtime now. For many it
would mean a cut of $20,000 yearly in overtime pay. As well, given
existing experience, many knew 12 hours would become 16. While some
workers were angry about the attack on new hires and voted no,
seeing this attack as a stepping stone toward eliminating gains like
overtime pay for all workers, the contract was ratified.
The strike started in Portland, Oregon, on August 10 and spread to
Nabisco's two other U.S. bakeries in Richmond, Virginia, and Chicago,
Illinois as well as distribution centers in Aurora, Colorado, and
Norcross, Georgia. Workers make Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Ritz crackers, and
Saltines, among other products.
Strikers joined with local organizations and unions to strengthen
their efforts. In Portland, local organizations held weekly rallies on
Saturday, which drew hundreds of supporters. "Boycott brigades" headed
out afterward to leaflet and plaster supermarkets with stickers reading
"Don't Buy Nabisco! Respect the Strike!" Members of the Portland
Thorns, the women's professional soccer team, joined the picket line,
as did Teamsters, nurses, carpenters, and fellow grocery workers from
out of state.
Supporters organized a visit in the middle of the night to a local
Marriott to demand it stop housing scabs, honking horns and setting off
car alarms to drive their point home. Portland activists, many from
recent battles against police killings and violence, blocked vans full
of scabs from getting to or leaving the plant. They also stood on the
railroad tracks with picket signs, convincing a union engineer to
reverse a train carrying ingredients to the plant. Many people joined
in raising $91,000 in an online strike fund.
Regardless of how they voted on the contract, workers were inspired
by the support they got and pledged to join rallies by other workers
fighting for their rights. "There's more of us than there are of them,"
was the spirit of many.
Frito-Lay Workers Strike to End 84-Hour Workweeks
Frito-Lay workers in Topeka, Kansas, went on strike for 19 days in
July to end forced overtime and 84-hour workweeks of 12 hours a day,
seven days a week. The new two-year contract guarantees at least one day
off per week. While it raises wages four per cent over two years, this
remains insufficient to meet the current rates of inflation of five
per cent yearly.
Workers at the Topeka plant were demanding an end to a situation
where they were working double and triple shifts and voted down the
first contract offer. Many were working exhausting 12-hour shifts in
stifling hot conditions with as little as eight hours in between. As
frontline workers, they are not receiving hazard pay during the
pandemic. They are speaking out about safety concerns, including the
long hours and walked out in part for those reasons.
Frito-Lay, the maker of Cheetos, Doritos, Ruffles and other packaged
foods, is a unit of PepsiCo, the New York-based food and beverage
oligopoly. Workers produced $4.5 billion in revenue in just the second
quarter, accounting for 23 per cent of PepsiCo's revenue.
This article was published in
November 15, 2021 - No. 107
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO081077.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
