Tag: Kelloggs

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Reddit Crashes Kellogg Site After Contract Fails

Credit: Central Labor Council of Memphis and West Tennessee

The Kellogg Co. labor dispute is gaining national attention, especially after Redditors crashed the company hiring site, flooding it with false applications for jobs to replace striking workers. 

About 1,400 employees at four Kellogg plants — Battle Creek, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis — have been on strike since October 5th. The striking workers say they want equal pay and benefits for new hires. 

The company said it’s had 19 negotiation sessions with the workers and the union that represents them. The employees with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union rejected a new five-year contract Tuesday. The Kellogg Co. said that contract would have offered “an accelerated, defined path to legacy wages and benefits for transitional employees, and wage increases and enhanced benefits for all, among other items.” 

Chris Hood, president of Kellogg North America, said the decision to reject the contract left the company “no choice” but to move forward to operate its business. That includes hiring workers to replace those on strike. 

“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,” Hood said in a statement issued Tuesday. “While certainly not the result we had hoped for, we must take the necessary steps to ensure business continuity. We have an obligation to our customers and consumers to continue to provide the cereals that they know and love.”

A Thursday Facebook post from the Central Labor Council of Memphis and West Tennessee said it is willing to continue negotiations with the company in good faith “despite their update to their site.” 

Credit: Central Labor Council of Memphis and West Tennessee

“We are open to modifying some of our proposals as long as the company is willing to do the same,” reads the post. “Bargaining a sustainable agreement that benefits both company and union is our sole desire and we will stand firm until our goals are met.”

After the company announced it would hire replacement workers, a Reddit user said “we need to make sure this does not work out for them.”

Kellogg’s is firing striking workers. We need to make sure this doesn’t work out for them. from antiwork

On Thursday, thousands of users from the r/antiwork subreddit applied for jobs on the company website, with no intention of taking them. Instead, Redditor u/BloominFunions said the move was to “to clog their toilet of an application pipeline.”

Apply now! Kellogg is hiring scabs online. Let’s drown their union busting. Mods please sticky! from antiwork

The Reddit move came with detailed instructions on how to apply and make it look like the fake applicants lived in one of the Kellogg-plant cities. ZIP Codes were listed for each city and u/BloominFunions said to just download a sample resume from Google images, add personal details to it, and “have fun with it.”

The post was flooded with responses of others who said they’d pitch in or derisive sentiment to the situation like u/Boeings707 who said, “fuck that company.” 

Kellogg’s Application Pages Are Down from antiwork

Thousands in the r/antiwork subreddit took a victory lap later Thursday, claiming the scheme had worked. “Kellogg’s application pages are down,” claimed u/eesaray in a post. Of the news on the Central Labor Council Facebook page, Memphis political activist Allan Creasy said, “Reddit can be a beautiful place sometimes.”

Comment from discussion c0nstantfailure’s comment from discussion "Kellogg’s Application Pages Are Down".
Comment from discussion c5corvette’s comment from discussion "Kellogg’s Application Pages Are Down".

Journalist and author Kurt Eichanwald took notice of the moves on Reddit.

@black_madness21

Shortucut soon perhaps #antiwork #workersrights #kelloggs #strike #unions #leftist

♬ original sound – Sean Black

AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said the Reddit maneuver “is what solidarity looks like.”

Back over on Reddit, even the typically noncontroversial r/coolguides subreddit got in on the Kellogg action:

A guide to boycotting Kellogg’s from coolguides
Categories
News News Blog

Kellogg Invites Union to Bargain, One Worker Vows to Turn Pressure Up

Strikers at the Memphis Kellogg's plant. (Photo: Memphis Restaurant Workers United).

National Kellogg Co. officials called union leaders to the negotiation table Monday morning as the strike in Memphis entered its 20th day.

Company officials said they want to meet union leaders in Indianapolis this week and are willing to “consider any proposals.” Ken Hurley, Kellogg’s head of labor relations, said so in an email Monday to the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers’ International Union (BCTGM) negotiating committee. 

Here’s the message in full:

“In (another) [parentheses are the company’s] effort to resume negotiations, the company proposes that the parties meet this week in Indianapolis, at a location TBD. 

“As we have stated from the beginning, the company is willing to consider any proposals from the union including proposals that would preserve a pathway for transitionals to legacy wages and benefits. 

“At the end of the day, we have a responsibility to these employees, which is to engage in good-faith bargaining toward a replacement agreement that gets them back to work.

“We are hoping the union is willing to resume negotiations,” said Hurley.

The company said the invitation to bargain is the second since October 4th but the union had not yet responded. 

According to Kellogg’s negotiation website, the union “appears” to be unwilling to negotiate unless the company agrees to provide free healthcare and pension benefits to employees who do not now receive them. 

“The union agreed in 2015 to a more current, market-based health and retirement plan,” reads a Kellogg statement from early October. “Now they want to go back on that deal. We have no such pre-conditions to returning to the negotiations table and remain ready, willing, and able to meet.”

The strike equates to “war,” according to a post made Sunday by Kevin Nino Bradshaw on the local BCTGM Kellogg Facebook page.

“Think about all the time, dedication and loyalty, we have given Kellogg’s,” he wrote. “You think about all the money they [are] spending to try break us, but can’t agree to equal pay and benefits, but want to take away from our family and loved ones. … if you … think this is not war then you need to wake up! Come too far to turn around all we can do now is turn the pressure up!” 

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis Kellogg’s Workers Continue Strike

A sign at the local Kellogg’s factory at 168 Frisco Avenue (Credit: Jesse Davis)

Kellogg’s workers in several U.S. cities, including Memphis, are on strike. The strike began on Tuesday, October 5th, when the master contract between the Kellogg Company and the local Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International unions expired, after a one-year extension that was put in place in 2020. 

“I’ve been with Kellogg’s for 20 years,” says Kevin Bradshaw, vice president of the BCTGM 252G. “I work in the packaging department that actually ships out the finished product all over the world.” 

A sign on display at the entrance to the Memphis Kellogg’s factory calls the workers “essential.” (Credit: Jesse Davis)

“They forced our hand to be on strike,” says Bradshaw. “The contract expired in 2020, but we went to impasse and we had a year extension on that contract.” 

Workers have been on a picket line at the local Kellogg’s factory at 168 Frisco Avenue since the strike began. 

“We are disappointed by the union’s decision to strike,” says Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner. 

“We worked through the pandemic, seven days a week. They talk about $120,000 that we make, but they didn’t tell you that that’s overtime,” Bradshaw says. “We worked through the pandemic, we had over a third of our plant that was infected or affected in some way by Covid-19, and we still showed up to work seven days a week, 12, 16 hours a day.” 

Bradshaw says that after a lock-out in 2013, the union and Kellogg Company agreed to a “progressive format” for wages and benefits for new employees, who would be hired at a lower level of pay but with a path to top pay. 

“Only thing we want — we’re not asking for more money. We’re asking you to continue paying everyone who works at Kellogg’s the same amount of money, same amount of benefits and insurance. Don’t treat anybody different. Equal pay for equal work.

“We make 85 percent of the Frosted Flakes in America right here in Memphis. We make cereal in Memphis cheaper than anywhere else in the world,” Bradshaw says. “We make safe, quality food because we eat the food. We take the food home to our families.”

The full statement from the Kellogg Company is below:

Kellogg Company and the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union are engaged in negotiations to finalize a master labor contract for our four U.S. Ready to Eat Cereal (RTEC) plants. We are disappointed by the union’s decision to strike. Kellogg provides compensation and benefits for our U.S. RTEC employees that are among the industry’s best. Our offer includes increases to pay and benefits for our employees, while helping us meet the challenges of the changing cereal business.  

The majority of employees working under this Master Contract enjoy a CPG (consumer packaged goods) industry-leading level of pay and benefits, which include above-market wages and pension or 401k. The average 2020 earnings for the majority of RTEC employees was $120,000.

Most employees under this contract have unparalleled, no-cost comprehensive health insurance, while less senior employees have the same health insurance as our salaried employees, but with much lower employee contributions.

Our proposals not only maintain these industry-leading level of pay and benefits, but offer significant increases in wages, benefits and retirement. 

The Company has not proposed moving any RTEC volume or jobs outside of the U.S. as part of these negotiations.

We remain committed to achieving a fair and competitive contract that recognizes the important work of our employees and helps ensure the long-term success of our plants and the Company. We remain ready, willing and able to continue negotiations and hope we can reach an agreement soon. For more information, please visit https://kelloggsnegotiations.com/

The Memphis Kellogg’s factory (Credit: Jesse Davis)
Categories
News News Blog

Man Gets 10 Months for Peeing in Kellogg’s Cereal

CREDIT: YouTube

YouTube

The man who filmed himself peeing on the Kellogg’s production line in 2014 will get 10 months in prison and will pay $10,000 in restitution.

Gregory Stanton, 49, pleaded guilty to tampering with consumer products in December. At the time, he faced up to three years in prison and a fine of up too $250,000.

Stanton worked at Kellogg’s Memphis manufacturing facility in 2014. That year he filmed himself urinating on the proaction line and posted the video to YouTube.

In 2011, Stanton was indicted by a federal grand jury for tainting consumer products “with the intent to cause serious injury to the business of any person,” according to U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant. He was sentenced Friday.

“American citizens and consumers rely upon food manufacturers engaged in interstate commerce to provide them with safe and consistent products,” Dunavant said. “Unfortunately, this defendant betrayed that trust by tampering with and tainting food products.”
[pullquote-1] Acting Special Agent in Charge H. Peter Kuehl of the U.S. Food & Drug Adminstration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, Miami Field Office, said his office is “fully committed” to prosecuting “criminals who tamper with or taint the U.S. food supply in any manner.”

“Americans expect and deserve the highest standards of food safety and wholesomeness, and the integrity of the U.S. food supply is too important to be thwarted by the illicit acts of any individual,” Kuehl said.

Categories
News The Fly-By

Fly on the Wall 1412

Missed Metaphor

Is there anything more disappointing than a film about a man urinating inappropriately inside a Kellogg’s factory but not pissing in the cornflakes? The short answer is no. The long answer is also no, but that didn’t stop a Memphis-made video from going viral last week after pretty much every news station on Earth shared pixelated footage of a man relieving himself on equipment inside the Person Street Kellogg’s factory.

The video — lit like the bad horror movie it is — opens with an establishing shot where viewers are introduced to an innocent conveyor belt. Then a pair of mysterious black lace-up shoes enter the bottom left corner of the frame. A pale stream arcs upward, as if from nowhere, dribbling urine onto the equipment. The camera moves awkwardly around and down to reveal the source of the pee: an even more mysterious penis-shaped blur. The camera shakily pans around the room, and then it’s all over. Credits roll without the wetting of a single cornflake. We’re smelling something here at Fly on the Wall, and it’s not Oscar.

Neverending Elvis

Does anybody rack up posthumous business partnerships like Elvis Presley? The King of Rock and Roll was recently re-christened as “the King of Men’s Grooming” by American Crew, a company that manufactures a variety of hair products built to keep one’s Presley-esque quiff perfectly coiffed. According to company founder David Raccuglia, “Men around the world owe a debt to Elvis.” A debt that can only be paid in hair product and jowly sideburns.