From today's "Popular Information" email newsletter:
As the Great Depression gripped the country in 1930 and workers were laid off in droves, Kellogg "replaced the traditional three daily eight-hour shifts in his cereal plant with four six-hour shifts." This allowed everyone working at Kellogg to remain employed and for the company to offer jobs to laid-off workers in Battle Creek, Michigan. Kellogg also raised wages by 12.5%, twice, so that workers clocking fewer hours would maintain steady incomes.
The modern Kellogg's claims to reflect its founder's values. The company says that "W.K. Kellogg’s legacy continues to inspire us." The company boasts that today, it is "enriching communities and nurturing careers by putting people first in everything we do."
The reality is starkly different.
Kellogg's unionized workforce reports that today, factories are "purposely understaffed" with workers routinely required to clock "72- to 84-hour work weeks."
12/11/2021 update starts here
Kellogg raised the possibility of hiring permanent replacements in November. The company and the union last week reached a tentative agreement in which the company would lift a cap on the number of workers in the lower tier, which was 30 percent under the previous contract. In exchange, the company agreed to move all workers with four or more years experience into the veteran tier, as well as an amount equivalent to 3 percent of workers at its plants in each of the five years of the contract.
On Tuesday, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which represents the workers, said its members had “overwhelmingly voted” against the deal. In response to the result, Kellogg said that it would “hire permanent replacement employees in positions vacated by striking workers.”
At Kellogg cereal plants in Michigan, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Nebraska, 1,400 workers have been on strike since Oct. 5. Among their complaints: Kellogg's proposal of a two-tier system that would give newer hires lower wages and fewer retirement benefits than legacy workers. They say Kellogg can afford good wages and benefits for everyone, given the profits it has raked in throughout the pandemic. Kellogg counters that its workers enjoy industry-leading pay and benefits and that the proposed contract maintains that. [emphasis added]
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