US PRESIDENT JOE Biden slammed Kellogg’s management for replacing striking workers and urged the cereal giant to negotiate a solution to their labour dispute.
Biden, a longtime champion of unions, said he was “deeply troubled by reports of Kellogg’s plans to permanently replace striking workers” and vowed to “aggressively defend” collective bargaining.
“Collective bargaining is an essential tool to protect the rights of workers that should be free from threats and intimidation from employers,” Biden said in a statement.
The company on announced on Tuesday that it would replace workers after members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) rejected the latest contract offer.
“The prolonged work stoppage has left us no choice but to continue executing the next phase of our contingency plan including hiring replacement employees in positions vacated by striking workers,” said Chris Hood, President of Kellogg North America.
Kellogg’s European Headquarters is located in Dublin.
Biden said that “permanently replacing striking workers is an existential attack on the union and its members’ jobs and livelihoods”.
“I have long opposed permanent striker replacements and I strongly support legislation that would ban that practice.”
Kellogg's says it is *permanently replacing* the 1,400 union members who went on strike.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) December 9, 2021
Workers have reported 80 hour work weeks, 16-hour shifts, and forced overtime.
Meanwhile, Kellogg’s CEO made $11.6 million in 2020.
I urge you: Don't cross the picket line.
The company responded saying it had “made every effort” to secure a wage deal with labour.
“We agree that this needs to be solved at the bargaining table. Our objective has been – and continues to be – to reach a fair agreement for our people,” Kellogg’s spokesperson Kris Bahner told AFP.
However, Bahner added, “We have an obligation to our customers and consumers to continue to provide the cereals that they know and love – as well as to the thousands of people we employ.”
The union said the strike against Kellogg’s, which began on 5 October in Battle Creek, Michigan; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Omaha, Nebraska and Memphis, Tennessee, continues.
Among other grievances, the workers reject the company’s two-tiered wage structure.
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