The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, and Kellogg Company have met at a tentative agreement. Both the BCTGM and the Kellogg Company said that they would also meet at the end of the week to further discuss a resolution.
Anthony Shelton, president of the BCTGM, said in the organization’s news release, “I want to thank and commend all of the members of the bargaining committee for their many, many hours of extremely hard work to reach this tentative agreement. As always in our Union, the members will have the final say on the contract.”
According to the Kellogg Company’s negotiations webpage, the tentative agreement includes a 3 percent wage increase, an increased pension multiplier, and enhanced benefits for all employees. The agreement also included what Kellogg would set as its hourly wage based on how many years a transitional employee was with the company, and for new hires. For new hires, the wage would be set at $22.76, and for a transitional employee of six years, the wage rate would be $28.16.
Kellogg also said that there would be no changes to employees’ health insurance, that employees must use 1 week of vacation concurrently with intermittent FMLA leave, expand funeral leave, and expand relocation opportunities.
The tentative agreement did not acknowledge Kellogg’s threat of hiring replacement workers during the union strikes, nor did it specify any different adjustments for any of the plants.
Earlier this week, The Tennessee Star reported on the BCTGM’s union strike, where roughly 1,400 union workers were protesting at four of Kellogg’s plants across the country. The union workers were on strike due to Kellogg wanting to implement a two-tiered employment system that would essentially take away benefits from the employees, take away wage increases, and threaten to move the company to Mexico.
While Kellogg rebutted each claim, many have taken the union worker’s side.
The BCTGM posted an update onto their Twitter that they would be meeting with the Kellogg Company on December 5, and many commented for the union to make sure they won back the rights for the employees.
One user tweeted, “Don’t sell yourselves short. Literally. You deserve a REAL #LivingWage! Thank you for fighting. #solidarity“
Many other users said that they would not make any Kellogg brand purchase until the company and union agreed on a fair settlement.
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Morgan Nicole Veysey is a reporter for The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow her on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Kelloggs Warehouse” by Rept0n1x CC BY-SA 3.0.
The whole lot of them should have been fired and replaced.