Strike Wave Continues as Kellogg's Workers Walk Off the Job

By Olafimihan Oshin, The Hill

[This strike, at a Kellogg’s cereal plant, is one of many erupting coast-to-coast in an ongoing strike wave. You wouldn’t know it from looking at mainstream media coverage, but the US is now in the midst of one of the most significant periods of labor activism in decades. As pandemic fatigue grinds on, workers are protesting long hours, stagnant pay, and C-suite imperatives for ever-increasing productivity among deteriorating conditions. That’s why we’re seeing workers, from carpenters, to nurses, to food factory employees stand up to the bosses. — Progressive Hub]

About 1,440 workers at four U.S.-based Kellogg cereal plants went on strike Tuesday, grinding the company’s production to a halt, The Associated Press reported.

Daniel Osborn, a union president at Kellogg’s plant at Omaha, Neb., told the newswire that the workers union and the Kellogg Company have been in talks about a bargaining deal for more than a year.

The union’s dispute involves an assortment of pay and benefits issues, including the loss of premium health care, holiday pay and reduced vacation time, according to the AP.

Osborn also mentioned the Battle Creek, Mich.-based company threatened to move some jobs to Mexico.

“A lot of Americans probably don’t have too much issue with the Nike or Under Armor hats being made elsewhere or even our vehicles, but when they start manufacturing our food down where they are out of the FDA control and OSHA control, I have a huge problem with that,” Osborn told the AP.