Kellogg to permanently replace striking employees as workers reject new contract

Kellogg to permanently replace striking employees as workers reject n…

archived 8 Dec 2021 16:46:52 UTC

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December 7, 20218:00 PM UTCLast Updated 21 hours ago
United States

Kellogg to permanently replace striking employees as workers reject new contract​

By Praveen Paramasivam

2 minute read

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Union workers from Kellogg's gather with signs while they picket outside the cereal maker's headquarters as they remain on strike in Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S., October 21, 2021. REUTERS/Emily Elconin

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Dec 7 (Reuters) - Kellogg Co (K.N) said on Tuesday a majority of its U.S. cereal plant workers have voted against a new five-year contract, forcing it to hire permanent replacements as employees extend a strike that started more than two months ago.
Temporary replacements have already been working at the company's cereal plants in Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Tennessee where 1,400 union members went on strike on Oct. 5 as their contracts expired and talks over payment and benefits stalled.

"Interest in the (permanent replacement) roles has been strong at all four plants, as expected. We expect some of the new hires to start with the company very soon," Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner said.
Kellogg also said there was no further bargaining scheduled and it had no plans to meet with the union.

The company said "unrealistic expectations" created by the union meant none of its six offers, including the latest one that was put to vote, which proposed wage increases and allowed all transitional employees with four or more years of service to move to legacy positions, came to fruition.
"They have made a 'clear path' - but while it is clear - it is too long and not fair to many," union member Jeffrey Jens said.

Union members have said the proposed two-tier system, in which transitional employees get lesser pay and benefits compared to longer-tenured workers, would take power away from the union by removing the cap on the number of lower-tier employees.
Several politicians including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have backed the union, while many customers have said they are boycotting Kellogg's products.
Kellogg is among several U.S. firms, including Deere & Co (DE.N), that has faced worker strikes in recent months as the labor market tightens.
Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shounak Dasgupta

 

[Soulless4510]

counterpoint: have the head of said union be black, have him yell out BLM while they torch a building
boom
peaceful protest

The problem with that is that it won't help the powers that be this so that BLM supporter will be silenced real quick

 

[Nate Higgers]

Honestly, most jobs beyond the bare minimum--the stuff that needs more than just a pair of hands or a warm body behind a cash register--are doing that anyway, especially these days. I updated my LinkedIn yesterday to reflect where I actually work and the number of messages from recruiters this morning is unreal.

I just think if you're good at stuff, you can get so much more than what a union would offer. People will give their left arm to keep a competent, dependable employee on staff.

For now I’m just biding my time. I work at a decent shop with great bosses/owners who aren’t afraid to join us crews in the field and work with their hands too, and our bosses/the shops owners are still dues paying members of the Local. I have a couple opportunities to get my CDL and maybe even a crane operators certification through the company and they make sure to keep their core group of guys happy enough that they’ll stick around.

I’m still planning to drag up and move to another area and possibly another career in the next couple of years but for now due to family situations and the lack of certifications/licenses/experience I currently have, sticking with this shop and with this Local is the best option for me right now, earnings-wise. I’m also considering just saying fuck it and going back to college so I can become a gay CPA or an IT wagie but I’m spoiled after having worked so long in an environment where I’m not under the constant threat of getting gelded by HR for an off color joke or non-woke pronoun.

 

[High-Fructose Corn Syrup]

I, too, enjoy 16 hour days 7 days a week with no time off ever and being fired if I get sick.

Hey a better job. You're not entitled to anything. Any clown can do this job which is why they are being let go. They just aren't worth it.

 

[High-Fructose Corn Syrup]

sucking dicks of corpos to own the libs..

In this case the libs owned themselves. They are unemployed.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

counterpoint: have the head of said union be black, have him yell out BLM while they torch a building
boom
peaceful protest

The problem with that is that it won't help the powers that be this so that BLM supporter will be silenced real quick

Nice of you guys to imply that anyone with a “BLM” tag would actually have a job to begin with

 

[ZehnBoat]

Nice of you guys to imply that anyone with a “BLM” tag would actually have a job to begin with

do you remember how many businesses were totting around BLM last year?

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

do you remember how many businesses were totting around BLM last year?

Yeah, and then I remembered that those corporations fired those exact same people all because they were in for the money and trend.

Not actually really caring for the movement at large.

 

[DamnWolves!]

For now I’m just biding my time

Careful with that. It flies by faster than you realize.

I work at a decent shop with great bosses/owners who aren’t afraid to join us crews in the field and work with their hands too, and our bosses/the shops owners are still dues paying members of the Local.

I'm a white collar guy, but I come from a very blue collar background. It depends what you want in life. For me, my career is an integral part of who I am. I know a lot of guys with different priorities; they're happy to do their time and bring home a steady paycheck. I'm not happy unless there's a new mountain to conquer, but I acknowledge that's not for everyone (or even healthy, always).

I’m also considering just saying fuck it and going back to college so I can become a gay CPA or an IT wagie but I’m spoiled after having worked so long in an environment where I’m not under the constant threat of getting gelded by HR for an off color joke or non-woke pronoun.

Its really not all that bad. Again, you prove yourself valuable and you can do basically whatever you want.

 

[The handsome tard]

Are we ready to admit that unions and strikes are a leftist thing that, like all leftist things, has done more harm than good to workers?

I can tell from experience.

Fuck them. Fuck them to hell. They do nothing but make things worse for employers directly AND employees indirectly.

Peak commie garbage.

 

[kcbbq]

I can tell from experience.

Fuck them. Fuck them to hell. They do nothing but make things worse for employers directly AND employees indirectly.

Peak commie garbage.

Why don't we have much of a steel industry in the US? That would be one specific union contract back in the day that basically made it impossible to compete.

 

[Lord Neeba]

Why don't we have much of a steel industry in the US? That would be one specific union contract back in the day that basically made it impossible to compete.

Or because China violated WTO regulations to make it's steel as competitive as possible and all the non-steel corpos were like, "Yes, cheap steel! Don't do anything about their trade violations, we get cheap steel!" on a global scale and thus turning China into the overlord of the steel market, producing over half of the world's steel.

Or to put it in perspective: The US steel industry if functionally dead. It is also the fourth largest steel industry in the world, behind China, India, and Japan.