{"id":13583,"date":"2021-10-25T15:28:41","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T15:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/?p=13583"},"modified":"2021-10-25T15:28:41","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T15:28:41","slug":"kellogg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/kellogg\/","title":{"rendered":"KELLOGG"},"content":{"rendered":"

KELLOGG Employee’s Work 100 Days Straight\u2019: Kellogg\u2019s Workers Shut Down Cereal Factories Kellogg\u2019s workers are on strike after a year of fraught negotiations. All 1,400 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union took to protesting. These workers produce breakfast staples like Rice Krispies, Fruit Loops, Corn Flakes, and Raisin Bran; however, they were overworked with little benefits. In fact, Kellogg\u2019s proposed pay and benefits cuts despite the severe understaffing that forces employees to work overtime. Sometimes 16-hours days, seven days a week. All without a vacation for months.<\/h2>\n

\u201cFor more than a year throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Kellogg workers around the country have been working long, hard hours, day in and day out, to produce Kellogg ready-to-eat cereals for American families,<\/i>\u201d said Anthony Shelton. Shelton is president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cKellogg\u2019s response to these loyal, hardworking employees has been to demand these workers give up quality health care, retirement benefits, and holiday and vacation pay. 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<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kellogg\u2019s Workers Go on Strike<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working 12 to 16 hours a day to meet the increased demand in the cereal market. I\u2019ve worked for two years with no weekends off other than vacation days. You miss out on a lot\u2014family time, don\u2019t get to see kids play sports, don\u2019t get to see your spouse,<\/i>\u201d said Kerry Williams, a mechanic who has worked at the Kellogg\u2019s factory for 18 years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In response, Kellogg\u2019s spokesperson Kris Bahner stated the company was \u201cdisappointed by the union\u2019s decision to strike.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cKellogg provides compensation and benefits for our US [ready to eat cereal] employees that are among the industry\u2019s best,\u201d<\/i> Bahner said. \u201cOur offer includes increases to pay and benefits for our employees while helping us meet the challenges of the changing cereal business.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kellogg\u2019s was one of the many businesses that flourished during the pandemic and lockdown. After all, people had to eat at home, so they stockpiled cereal. In 2020, Kellogg\u2019s CEO, Steve Cahillane, earned over $11.6 million. Meanwhile, workers got small pay bonuses and cookies for working to the detriment of their health. Factories in Michigan, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania endured large outbreaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to highlight executive-level compensation, and the bonuses [executives] received during the pandemic,<\/i>\u201d said Trevor Bidelman, who has worked there for 17 years and is president of his local union. \u201cAll of that was made possible because we worked seven days a week 16-hours a day. Now with their greed, they want to thank us by cutting our jobs and making our future workforce have less than what our current workforce does.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

The Threat of Losing Their Jobs<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bidelman explained that some workers at the Battle Creek, Michigan factory worked 120 days without a vacation because of the understaffing. And in September, Kellogg\u2019s announced it was cutting 212 people at their plant, leading the workers to fear losing their jobs. Recently, Kellogg\u2019s has been shifting facilities to Mexico. There labor costs are cheaper, forcing many workers in the United States into unemployment. \u201cIt\u2019s been steadily worse since I\u2019ve been here, as far as how I\u2019m treated,<\/i>\u201d said Bidelman. \u201cThe pandemic heightened it.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

The threat of losing jobs to Mexico if workers don\u2019t accept the company\u2019s demand has angered many employees. Plus, there\u2019s another issue with moving work to Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of Americans probably don\u2019t 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,<\/i>\u201d said Shelton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to eliminate the two-tier wage system<\/i>\u201d<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really amazing that a company that makes and has this much money can\u2019t staff enough people to have a day off,<\/i>\u201d he added. \u201cWe struggle getting funeral days off for an aunt or uncle [who has passed]. If it\u2019s a friend, too bad.<\/i>\u201c<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kellogg\u2019s proposed a two-tier wage system that cuts premium health care, vacation pay, and retirement benefits. A two-tier employment system is a common way for employers to lower costs and working conditions without incensing the veteran workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two-tier wage system was implemented in 2015 when Kellogg\u2019s threatened plant closure and gave a substantial signing bonus to new workers,\u201d<\/i> said Dan Osborn. Osborn is a mechanic at the Kellogg\u2019s factory in Omaha, and the president of his local union. \u201cThey dangled a carrot in front of us and through fear and intimidation got us to do that. Now we want to eliminate the two-tier wage system.\u201d <\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KELLOGG Employee’s Work 100 Days Straight\u2019: Kellogg\u2019s Workers Shut Down Cereal Factories Kellogg\u2019s workers are on strike after a year of fraught negotiations. All 1,400 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union took to protesting. These workers produce breakfast staples like Rice Krispies, Fruit Loops, Corn Flakes, and Raisin Bran; Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[1170,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13583"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13585,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13583\/revisions\/13585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}