Hundreds of workers at Nabisco bakeries across the country are on strike over a proposal to change their work shifts and health care benefits.
Workers at Nabisco facilities that bake and wrap Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies have gone on strike in protest of proposed changes to work schedules and health care plans.Bloomberg via Getty Images
Aug. 20, 2021/ Source: TODAY
By Scott Stump
Hundreds of union employees at three U.S. Nabisco bakeries that make Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies and Ritz Crackers have gone on strike to protest proposed changes amid contract negotiations with parent company Mondelez International, Inc.
Approximately 200 workers at a factory in Portland, Oregon, have been on strike for two weeks and were joined on Monday by about 400 employees at Nabisco's bakery in Richmond, Virginia. On Thursday, workers at Nabisco's bakery in Chicago also walked off the job to go on strike.
Employees at a sales distribution center in Aurora, Colorado, also joined the strike on Aug. 12. All of the workers on strike are members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union, which announced the Chicago strike on Thursday.
"This fight is about maintaining what we already have," Mike Burlingham, vice president of BCTGM Local 364 in Portland, told TODAY Food. "During the pandemic, we all were putting in a lot of hours, demand was higher, people were at home, and the snack food industry did phenomenally well.
"Mondelez made record profits and they want to thank us by closing two of the U.S. bakeries (last month) and telling the rest of us we have to take concessions, what kind of thanks is that? We make them a lot of money. It's very disheartening. How is that supposed to make us feel?"
The union is in the midst of negotiating a new four-year contract with Mondelez after the previous one expired in May.
Union leaders say that Mondelez has proposed switching from eight-hour shifts, five days a week, to 12-hour shifts, three or four days a week, without overtime, and with increased mandatory work on weekends without extra pay.
The strikes are not expected to disrupt production of Oreos, Chips Ahoy and other products made by the facilities, Mondelez spokesperson Laurie Guzzinati told TODAY. Another plant in Naperville, Illinois, that makes Triscuit crackers is operational, according to Guzzinati.
"As soon as we got word that there were local strikes, we activated continuity plans," she said. "Consumers will continue to get the cookies and crackers they know and love. The leadership team and salaried employees are continuing to focus on operations."
Burlingham disputed that there has been no disruption in production of Oreos.
"It's stopped," he said. "I'm standing outside the facility right now, and nothing is coming out of a single smoke stack. You can smell when they're baking something, and I don't smell a thing."
However, Burlingham added that replacement workers have been bused into the plant.
Union representatives in Richmond said on Wednesday that no cookies were being made at that facility, either.
“The lines require skilled labor and they just can’t run those lines without our union members in there,” BCTGM Local 358 president Keith Bragg told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
By Scott Stump
Hundreds of union employees at three U.S. Nabisco bakeries that make Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies and Ritz Crackers have gone on strike to protest proposed changes amid contract negotiations with parent company Mondelez International, Inc.
Approximately 200 workers at a factory in Portland, Oregon, have been on strike for two weeks and were joined on Monday by about 400 employees at Nabisco's bakery in Richmond, Virginia. On Thursday, workers at Nabisco's bakery in Chicago also walked off the job to go on strike.
Employees at a sales distribution center in Aurora, Colorado, also joined the strike on Aug. 12. All of the workers on strike are members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union, which announced the Chicago strike on Thursday.
"This fight is about maintaining what we already have," Mike Burlingham, vice president of BCTGM Local 364 in Portland, told TODAY Food. "During the pandemic, we all were putting in a lot of hours, demand was higher, people were at home, and the snack food industry did phenomenally well.
"Mondelez made record profits and they want to thank us by closing two of the U.S. bakeries (last month) and telling the rest of us we have to take concessions, what kind of thanks is that? We make them a lot of money. It's very disheartening. How is that supposed to make us feel?"
The union is in the midst of negotiating a new four-year contract with Mondelez after the previous one expired in May.
Union leaders say that Mondelez has proposed switching from eight-hour shifts, five days a week, to 12-hour shifts, three or four days a week, without overtime, and with increased mandatory work on weekends without extra pay.
The strikes are not expected to disrupt production of Oreos, Chips Ahoy and other products made by the facilities, Mondelez spokesperson Laurie Guzzinati told TODAY. Another plant in Naperville, Illinois, that makes Triscuit crackers is operational, according to Guzzinati.
"As soon as we got word that there were local strikes, we activated continuity plans," she said. "Consumers will continue to get the cookies and crackers they know and love. The leadership team and salaried employees are continuing to focus on operations."
Burlingham disputed that there has been no disruption in production of Oreos.
"It's stopped," he said. "I'm standing outside the facility right now, and nothing is coming out of a single smoke stack. You can smell when they're baking something, and I don't smell a thing."
However, Burlingham added that replacement workers have been bused into the plant.
Union representatives in Richmond said on Wednesday that no cookies were being made at that facility, either.
“The lines require skilled labor and they just can’t run those lines without our union members in there,” BCTGM Local 358 president Keith Bragg told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Union leaders have also said the proposal by Mondelez includes different health care plans that would keep the status quo for existing employees and be more expensive for new hires, potentially creating a rift between the two types of employees. The new plan would have a deductible, which the existing plan does not have.
"We call that eating our young and that's not something we do," Burlingham said. "What's a benefit to one is a benefit to all. If one of my kids comes to work here one day, I don't want to tell him I voted to keep something to benefit me and not him."
Guzzinati said the proposed health care plans for new employees is the same "generous plan" that BCTGM approved for its workers at the facility in Naperville.
The alternative work schedules would only affect workers on a small number of high-demand production lines and would not affect overtime pay for a majority of workers, according to Guzzinati. She added that the intention is "to encourage the right behaviors, and if you're assigned to shifts, you're working those shifts."
Burlingham believes the proposal leaves the door open for all employees to be switched from 8- to 12-hour shifts.
"What's to stop them from calling every single line a high-demand line?" Burlingham said.
"Our goal has been — and continues to be — to bargain in good faith with the BCTGM leadership across our U.S. bakeries and sales distribution facilities to reach new contracts that continue to provide our employees with good wages and competitive benefits, including quality, affordable healthcare, and company-sponsored Enhanced Thrift Investment 401(k) Plan, while also taking steps to modernize some contract aspects which were written several decades ago," Mondelez said in a detailed statement.
The strikes at the three locations come after Nabisco shut down long-running factories in Atlanta and Fair Lawn, New Jersey, last month after announcing the closures in February.
Mondelez also eliminated pensions in 2018 and switched workers to 401(k) plans.
BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton accused Mondelez in a statement of moving jobs to Mexico with the recent closures.
"Nabisco’s response to these loyal, hardworking employees has been to close two more bakeries in Fairlawn, NJ and Atlanta, GA, ship 1,000 more good, middle-class jobs to Mexico and demand major contract concessions from the workers," he said. "Nabisco is making record profits but still this company wants to squeeze more out of its workers."
Guzzinati said the claim that Mondelez moved those jobs to Mexico is not true.
"Our commitment to the U.S and the U.S. supply chain is very strong," she said. "To say that a thousand jobs went to Mexico after the closure of the two bakeries is inaccurate. We remain committed to robust manufacturing here, and our focus now is working through to bring a resolution to these negotiations with workers."
Mondelez reported a 12.4% increase in net revenue in the second quarter of this year and shares of their stock rose 6% in 2020 as snack sales jumped with millions of Americans at home during the pandemic.
The Nabisco strikes come just weeks after workers at a Frito-Lay facility in Kansas went on strike for nearly three weeks to fight against back-to-back 12-hour shifts with only an eight-hour break in between. The workers, who are also represented by the BCTGM, ratified an agreement that put an end to the so-called "suicide shifts" last month, according to The New York Times.
CORRECTION (Aug. 20, 2021, 10:10 a.m. ET): The headline and subheading on a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that workers at all of Nabisco's U.S. bakeries are on strike. There is a facility Naperville, Illinois, that produces Triscuits whose workers are not part of the strike as of Aug. 20. The company considers the facility to be one of its four official bakeries in the U.S.
“We worked 16 hours a day during the pandemic”
Nabisco strike across four states continues with wide supportJames Martin
12 hours ago
The World Socialist Web Site will assist in the formation of a Nabisco workers rank-and-file committee. Text (773) 234-7135 or write to contact@wsws.org to learn more.
Over 1,000 bakery workers continued to strike across four states over the weekend in Chicago, Illinois; Portland, Oregon; Richmond, Virginia; and Aurora, Colorado. The workers are fighting against the demands of Nabisco’s parent company, multinational Chicago-based food conglomerate Mondelez, to impose concessions and brutal working conditions.
Nabisco workers on strike in front of the Chicago plant [Credit: WSWS Media]
The strike began when 200 workers walked out on August 10 in Portland, Oregon. On Saturday, hundreds of workers rallied in front of the Portland plant to support the striking workers. Last week, 345 workers in the Chicago plant and 25 workers at the distribution center in Addison, Illinois joined the strike. The Nabisco workers strike is part of a broader rebellion of workers across the country against social inequality and the pandemic, from Frito-Lay/Pepsi workers to Volvo autoworkers, auto mechanics, teachers, and nurses, and unrest among Deere workers.
Mondelez is proposing a four-year contract and demanding workers accept a change in overtime a new Alternative Work Schedule (AWS) which would eliminate overtime after eight hours, and a two-tier health care plan. During the pandemic, workers have been forced to work 12 to 16- hour shifts. Workers could lose tens of thousands of dollars a year from their overtime pay in such a scheme.
The health care plan that it is also proposing for the new contract is one the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union has already imposed on workers in the Naperville, Illinois bakery facility, which has a separate contract. The concessions that the union accepted there include higher out-of-pocket costs by workers.
Mondelez, which operates in over 160 countries, made over $3.6 billion in profits off its global workforce in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. In 2016, Mondelez laid off hundreds of workers across the country and shut down production lines in Chicago, laying off 400 workers. Last month, it shut down Nabisco facilities in Atlanta, Georgia and Fair Lawn, New Jersey. In total, over a 1,000 jobs have been slashed in the last five years, which the BCTGM did nothing to stop. Conditions for workers in Nabisco facilities in other countries, including Mexico, are just as brutal, with pay as low as $2 an hour and high turnover.
While Nabisco workers are seeking to fight, the BCTGM is isolating their struggle while imposing concessions on workers in other facilities and industries. Workers at Frito-Lay in Kansas had a sellout contract imposed on them by the BCTGM after a 28 day strike and four consecutive rejected agreements.
The BCTGM has done nothing to stop the attack on Nabisco workers’ pensions, thousands of layoffs, plant closures or health care. The union has also accepted health care concessions in Naperville, which the company is banking on to impose upon workers across the country.
Nabisco workers have widespread support throughout the country and internationally, but they should put no trust in the BCTGM to fight for their interests. Instead, they should follow the example of Volvo workers, who formed a rank-and-file committee to oppose the sellout of their strike by the United Auto Workers.
Reporters from the WSWS spoke to Nabisco workers at the Southside Chicago plant, who make Wheat Thins, Nutter Butter and Belvita products. Maggie, a worker with more than two decades at the company, said, “I don’t want to work 12 hours a day. I want my 40 hours and if I want to work the weekend, I get paid for my premium pay.
“We would lose $10,000 or more a year [under the new AWS]. Saturday and Sunday, that’s where we get our money. A lot of times I go in early. That’s 12 hours. I get time and a half for those 4 hours over. I don’t want twelve hours in my four hours of regular time. That makes no sense to me.
She also spoke out against the two-tier health care proposal “We are all working in the same plant. Why can’t we get treated equally? How can you get them with different health care plans or for a different work schedule? They sayin’ well, ‘we’re just doing this to the new people.’ No, I don’t like that! Treat them the same. I may have my son try to get a job here. I don’t want him to get treated like that. The next generation is going to get treated worse and worse.
“They previously took our pensions and said they were going to put the money in our 401(k). To me that’s not enough. You say you’re going to give me X number of dollars. But it sure is adding up kinda slowly considering I’m already up in age by the time I’m ready to get my pensions, I won’t have that money they said I would have. I don’t believe anything they say, if you ask me.”
In 2016, more than half of the production lines were cut at the facility. “They cut all the Oreo lines, a Ritz line, a Graham Cracker line and a Chicken in a Biskit line,” Maggie said. “Now we have Wheat Thins and Nutter Butter and Belvita. Line 6 is a Wheat Thins. Line 4 is a Wheat Thins. Line 6 is a ‘super line’ they call it. But it’s really a ‘Super break down all the time’ line. The line is not holding up for what it is supposed to be. It puts out a lot, but it puts out a lot of garbage, too.”
The Chicago plant, which is one of the largest industrial bakeries in the world, is falling apart, Maggie said, due to a lack of investments. “I haven’t seen anything done to the plant [in years]. They used to do a little work like painting the floors and the walls and fixing stuff. Now they don’t do any of that.
“They claim they are not making the money. You don’t want us to make money when you make all the money and get all the bonuses? Why not help the little person? The person that makes their profits? Give us a bonus! We’re doing the work!
“During the pandemic we never really left. We worked all the time. I went out for two weeks a couple times. But while I was working we worked 12 hours a day. We came to work every day. Some companies closed down but we were sent to work, seven days a week.
“Yes, we broke down. We’re tired. Look at me. Since we’ve been here, there’s been a lot of people with knee problems and shoulder problems. The company tore us up. And we still push on.”
Another worker told the WSWS, “We’re fighting for our eight hour shifts. We’re used to eight hour shifts and they want us to do twelve hours shifts. We’re short staffed. And they’re trying to take our health care. They want us to pay for health care. They want to take our overtime on weekends. Saturday we get time and a half. Sunday we get double time. If people don’t come to work, they want to bring temps in.
“They’re forcing us to work 16 hours to do this job. We’re short staffed. We don’t get bonuses. They made us work through the pandemic –16 hours every day. It started in March of 2020. We just won a battle of getting our sick days through the ordinance of Chicago that went into effect in 2016. They wouldn’t give us our sick days. We just finally won a couple months ago.
“We’re fighting for respect. They don’t give us respect. When we’re out here on the weekends, they’re at home. If you force us to work 16 hours, where is Human Resources? They’re working from home.
“We had a whole line get sick, the Belvita line. We said, ‘How about you just shut the plant down so we can all quarantine?’ But they didn’t do that. They didn’t tell us who got sick. We had to assume. We learned from our coworkers who were sick and we had to tell each other. Why would we allow you to come to work? No, stay home! We all have families, grandkids, husbands – we don’t want our loved ones to get sick. We were dropping off Gatorade and water and supporting each other
The strike began when 200 workers walked out on August 10 in Portland, Oregon. On Saturday, hundreds of workers rallied in front of the Portland plant to support the striking workers. Last week, 345 workers in the Chicago plant and 25 workers at the distribution center in Addison, Illinois joined the strike. The Nabisco workers strike is part of a broader rebellion of workers across the country against social inequality and the pandemic, from Frito-Lay/Pepsi workers to Volvo autoworkers, auto mechanics, teachers, and nurses, and unrest among Deere workers.
Mondelez is proposing a four-year contract and demanding workers accept a change in overtime a new Alternative Work Schedule (AWS) which would eliminate overtime after eight hours, and a two-tier health care plan. During the pandemic, workers have been forced to work 12 to 16- hour shifts. Workers could lose tens of thousands of dollars a year from their overtime pay in such a scheme.
The health care plan that it is also proposing for the new contract is one the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union has already imposed on workers in the Naperville, Illinois bakery facility, which has a separate contract. The concessions that the union accepted there include higher out-of-pocket costs by workers.
Mondelez, which operates in over 160 countries, made over $3.6 billion in profits off its global workforce in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. In 2016, Mondelez laid off hundreds of workers across the country and shut down production lines in Chicago, laying off 400 workers. Last month, it shut down Nabisco facilities in Atlanta, Georgia and Fair Lawn, New Jersey. In total, over a 1,000 jobs have been slashed in the last five years, which the BCTGM did nothing to stop. Conditions for workers in Nabisco facilities in other countries, including Mexico, are just as brutal, with pay as low as $2 an hour and high turnover.
While Nabisco workers are seeking to fight, the BCTGM is isolating their struggle while imposing concessions on workers in other facilities and industries. Workers at Frito-Lay in Kansas had a sellout contract imposed on them by the BCTGM after a 28 day strike and four consecutive rejected agreements.
The BCTGM has done nothing to stop the attack on Nabisco workers’ pensions, thousands of layoffs, plant closures or health care. The union has also accepted health care concessions in Naperville, which the company is banking on to impose upon workers across the country.
Nabisco workers have widespread support throughout the country and internationally, but they should put no trust in the BCTGM to fight for their interests. Instead, they should follow the example of Volvo workers, who formed a rank-and-file committee to oppose the sellout of their strike by the United Auto Workers.
Reporters from the WSWS spoke to Nabisco workers at the Southside Chicago plant, who make Wheat Thins, Nutter Butter and Belvita products. Maggie, a worker with more than two decades at the company, said, “I don’t want to work 12 hours a day. I want my 40 hours and if I want to work the weekend, I get paid for my premium pay.
“We would lose $10,000 or more a year [under the new AWS]. Saturday and Sunday, that’s where we get our money. A lot of times I go in early. That’s 12 hours. I get time and a half for those 4 hours over. I don’t want twelve hours in my four hours of regular time. That makes no sense to me.
She also spoke out against the two-tier health care proposal “We are all working in the same plant. Why can’t we get treated equally? How can you get them with different health care plans or for a different work schedule? They sayin’ well, ‘we’re just doing this to the new people.’ No, I don’t like that! Treat them the same. I may have my son try to get a job here. I don’t want him to get treated like that. The next generation is going to get treated worse and worse.
“They previously took our pensions and said they were going to put the money in our 401(k). To me that’s not enough. You say you’re going to give me X number of dollars. But it sure is adding up kinda slowly considering I’m already up in age by the time I’m ready to get my pensions, I won’t have that money they said I would have. I don’t believe anything they say, if you ask me.”
In 2016, more than half of the production lines were cut at the facility. “They cut all the Oreo lines, a Ritz line, a Graham Cracker line and a Chicken in a Biskit line,” Maggie said. “Now we have Wheat Thins and Nutter Butter and Belvita. Line 6 is a Wheat Thins. Line 4 is a Wheat Thins. Line 6 is a ‘super line’ they call it. But it’s really a ‘Super break down all the time’ line. The line is not holding up for what it is supposed to be. It puts out a lot, but it puts out a lot of garbage, too.”
The Chicago plant, which is one of the largest industrial bakeries in the world, is falling apart, Maggie said, due to a lack of investments. “I haven’t seen anything done to the plant [in years]. They used to do a little work like painting the floors and the walls and fixing stuff. Now they don’t do any of that.
“They claim they are not making the money. You don’t want us to make money when you make all the money and get all the bonuses? Why not help the little person? The person that makes their profits? Give us a bonus! We’re doing the work!
“During the pandemic we never really left. We worked all the time. I went out for two weeks a couple times. But while I was working we worked 12 hours a day. We came to work every day. Some companies closed down but we were sent to work, seven days a week.
“Yes, we broke down. We’re tired. Look at me. Since we’ve been here, there’s been a lot of people with knee problems and shoulder problems. The company tore us up. And we still push on.”
Another worker told the WSWS, “We’re fighting for our eight hour shifts. We’re used to eight hour shifts and they want us to do twelve hours shifts. We’re short staffed. And they’re trying to take our health care. They want us to pay for health care. They want to take our overtime on weekends. Saturday we get time and a half. Sunday we get double time. If people don’t come to work, they want to bring temps in.
“They’re forcing us to work 16 hours to do this job. We’re short staffed. We don’t get bonuses. They made us work through the pandemic –16 hours every day. It started in March of 2020. We just won a battle of getting our sick days through the ordinance of Chicago that went into effect in 2016. They wouldn’t give us our sick days. We just finally won a couple months ago.
“We’re fighting for respect. They don’t give us respect. When we’re out here on the weekends, they’re at home. If you force us to work 16 hours, where is Human Resources? They’re working from home.
“We had a whole line get sick, the Belvita line. We said, ‘How about you just shut the plant down so we can all quarantine?’ But they didn’t do that. They didn’t tell us who got sick. We had to assume. We learned from our coworkers who were sick and we had to tell each other. Why would we allow you to come to work? No, stay home! We all have families, grandkids, husbands – we don’t want our loved ones to get sick. We were dropping off Gatorade and water and supporting each other
“I’ve worked here 26 years, straight out of high school. After two years, they laid us off. I had two kids. The 2016 layoffs were the worst. They took our Oreo and Ritz lines from us. They are our big moneymaker lines. They sent the lines to Mexico and they’re getting paid $2 per hour. They have the biggest turnover rate in Mexico and they are getting no benefits.
“I think everybody deserves better pay. We’re all Nabisco. People in Mexico deserve better pay. The 2016 layoffs were the worst feeling ever. Over 400 people were laid off then. It was a lot. We stood there watching them turn their stuff in. It broke our hearts. It was horrible.
“When they walked out in 2016 to cut jobs, they gave the CEO a golden package. They made so much money and we don’t get bonuses.”
“I think everybody deserves better pay. We’re all Nabisco. People in Mexico deserve better pay. The 2016 layoffs were the worst feeling ever. Over 400 people were laid off then. It was a lot. We stood there watching them turn their stuff in. It broke our hearts. It was horrible.
“When they walked out in 2016 to cut jobs, they gave the CEO a golden package. They made so much money and we don’t get bonuses.”
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