Workers End Strike At Kellogg’s Plants

Striking Kellogg’s workers stand outside the company’s cereal plant in Omaha, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. The company and the union announced a tentative agreement Thursday that could end the strike that began Oct. 5. (AP)
A strike at Kellogg that has gone on since early October ended after workers voted to ratify a labor contract at the company’s four U.S. cereal plants.
The contract covers about 1,400 unionized workers based in Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
Kellogg said Tuesday that the new contract provides immediate, across the board wage increases and enhanced benefits for all. It also provides an accelerated, defined path to top-tier wages, a major sticking point for workers, and benefits for transitional employees.
“We are pleased that we have reached an agreement that brings our cereal employees back to work,” CEO Steve Cahillane said in a prepared statement.
Workers that have been on strike since Oct. 5 will return to work after the holiday. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union said the contract is a win for workers.
“This agreement makes gains and does not include any concessions,” union President Anthony Shelton said in a prepared statement.
Members of the union voted on the offer over the previous weekend. The offer includes cost-of-living adjustments and a $1.10 per hour raise for all employees.
Earlier this month, an overwhelming majority of workers voted down a five-year offer that would have provided 3% raises and cost of living adjustments in coming years to most, but not all of the workers.
Kellogg’s said most workers at its cereal plants earned an average of $120,000 last year, though union members have said they work more than 80 hours a week to earn that, and those wages are only available to longtime workers. Under the two-tiered pay system the company uses, newer workers are paid less and receive fewer benefits.
That pay system was a sticking point during the negotiations, and Kellogg’s offer didn’t change on that part of the contract. The company said it will allow all workers with at least four years of experience to move up to the higher legacy pay level as part of this contract.
Union officials previously said that plan wouldn’t let other workers move up quickly enough. The company proposed eliminating the current 30% cap on the number of workers who receive the lower wages.
Throughout the strike Kellogg has been trying to keep its plants operating with salaried employees and outside workers, and the company said late last month that it planned to start hiring permanent replacements.
User login
Omaha Daily Record
The Daily Record
222 South 72nd Street, Suite 302
Omaha, Nebraska
68114
United States
Tele (402) 345-1303
Fax (402) 345-2351