OMAHA — Nebraska U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn, who led a strike in 2021 against Kellogg’s, expressed frustration Tuesday that 600 cereal plant workers he helped negotiate better pay and benefits for had learned the Omaha factory would close.

The company announced the decision to close the Omaha plant in a press release Tuesday, with WK Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnik saying the company needed to shore up its supply chain and invest more in its plants in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Ontario.

In a video response to the closure, Osborn said more than 600 local jobs would be eliminated from the plant, which opened in 1942. He said that the company remained profitable and that it was wrong for companies like Kellogg’s to put profits over people.

“We need to be angry about this,” Osborn said. “These are hard-working people. … This is a clear attack on the middle class that is constantly dwindling in this country.”

During strike negotiations, Kellogg’s argued that it was working to remain competitive with other cereal manufacturers.

Osborn, a nonpartisan candidate challenging U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said Tuesday evening it was flattering that some of his GOP critics said he needs to consider his role in the plant’s closure, saying that an 11-week strike didn’t help.

“I was just one cog in the wheel,” he said.

Osborn Says Company Profitable

He said the company has spent the past decade trying to cut its labor costs despite running profits of $19 billion before COVID-19 and $21 billion after.

“Is this a retaliation from the strike?” Osborn asked. “It’s definitely within the realm of possibility. But there are three other plants with the exact same wages. Omaha is the biggest. Seems unlikely that they would close that one.”

It’s much more likely that the company decided it could meet production demand with fewer people, he said, and that the pending closure in 2026 was a way to get other union leaders to come back to the bargaining table.

Current Kellogg’s union leaders in Omaha told the Examiner on Tuesday they hope to negotiate with the company to save jobs and keep the plant open. Workers were sent home Tuesday after being notified that production would ramp down in 2025.

Kenny Merritt, president of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 50-G union, said he and other employees were “a little upset” that the closure announcement happened the way it did.

But they don’t blame previous negotiations, he said, because those occurred under  previous management. His focus is showing WK Kellogg’s that the Omaha plant can still be productive, despite some older manufacturing technology.

“They say the towers are outdated and don’t perform as well,” Merritt said. “We disagree. We have some things that we want to work out.”

Fischer Declined To Comment

Osborn, who is now a steamfitter, announced in May that he was taking a break from his work and paying himself a salary to campaign full time.

Fischer declined to comment about the Kellogg’s plant closure. Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, also a Republican, said the closure announcement came as “quite a shock.” She said she was disappointed that a 75-year relationship could end this way.

“Kellogg’s will leave a big void,” she said. “Our first concern will be the Kellogg’s employees, and assisting them transition to new employment as Kellogg’s prepares to reduce production next year and close in 2026.”

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/08/06/nebraska-u-s-senate-candidate-da...