Kellogg’s US Workers ‘Snap, Crackle and Pop,’ with Roughly 1,400 Workers Going on Strike

Work at the entire Kellogg Firm’s U.S. cereal vegetation got here to a halt Tuesday as roughly 1,400 staff went on strike, however it was not instantly clear how a lot the availability of Frosted Flakes or any of the corporate’s different iconic manufacturers could be disrupted.

The strike contains vegetation in Omaha, Nebraska; Battle Creek, Michigan; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee.

The union and the Battle Creek-based firm have been at an deadlock on the bargaining desk for greater than a yr, stated Daniel Osborn, president of the native union in Omaha.

The dispute includes an assortment of pay and advantages points, such because the lack of premium well being care, vacation pay and decreased trip time, and Osborn stated the corporate has threatened to maneuver some jobs to Mexico.

“A variety of Individuals in all probability don’t have an excessive amount of concern with the Nike or Beneath Armor hats being made elsewhere and even our autos, however once they begin manufacturing our meals down the place they’re out of the FDA management and OSHA management, I’ve an enormous drawback with that,” Osborn stated.

The corporate insists that its supply is honest and would enhance wages and advantages for its workers that it stated made a median of $120,000 a yr final yr.

“We’re upset by the union’s determination to strike. Kellogg supplies compensation and advantages for our U.S. able to eat cereal workers which might be among the many trade’s greatest,” Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner stated in a press release.

Osborn stated he expects the corporate to attempt to deliver non-union staff into the vegetation in some unspecified time in the future this week as a way to resume operations and keep the supply of its merchandise.

The vegetation have all continued to function all through the coronavirus pandemic, however Osborn stated that for a lot of that point staff had been placing in 12-hour shifts, seven days every week to maintain up manufacturing whereas many individuals had been out due to the virus.

“The extent we had been working at is unsustainable,” Osborn stated.

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