It Could Happen Here - Striketober 1: The Kellogg's Strike

Episode Date: October 21, 2021

We talk to journalist, educator, and researcher Mel Buer about the Kellogg's strike, two tier systems, and the broader implications of Striketoberhttps://bctgm.org/2021/10/08/5-ways-to-support-the-kelloggstrike/  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You should probably keep your lights on for Nocturnal Tales from the Shadowbride. Join me, Danny Trejo, and step into the flames of fright. An anthology podcast of modern-day horror stories inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America. Listen to Nocturnal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Excellent work, Chris. That's good.

That's good. That's the kind of atonal grunting that people have come to expect from the introductions of my podcasts. I was hoping it wouldn't be that, but then it was so bad that it was great. No, Sophie. I loved it. I'm thrilled.

That's our brand now. It can't be anything else. We've established it. Look, nobody else is doing that. The Comptown guys, I assume, aren't atonally grunting to start their podcast. I don't know, actually, but I assume not. What is this podcast, Chris? I guess this is just how we start.

It could happen here. Is that true? You don't sound like you believe it. Enthusiastically, Chris, with feeling. This is a podcast. Damn right it is. About things happening here. That's right, motherfuckers.

It's about things falling apart. Yeah, excellent. That's how we do it okay what are we talking about today well one of the things that is happening here as we have discussed briefly in previous episodes is a bunch of strikes yep and yeah with us today to talk about one of these strikes specifically the Kellogg strike is Mel Buer an independent researcher educator and freelance journalist based in Omaha Nebraska where this particular strike is taking place who has done a lot of journalism previously on the local sort of protestant uprising history in 2020 and is also researching and writing a book on alternative media hi hello welcome to the show thanks strikes strikes apparently is what's up it is it is

striketober we're doing strikes strike wave baby ye ye so this this specific strike um why don't can you can you walk us through a bit about how we got to the point where this Kellogg's factory is on strike? Well, first off, it's four plants. It's all four American Kellogg's cereal plants have gone on strike. The workers in these plants are represented by the Bakery Confectionery Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union. I do love that bakeries and tobacco workers are in the same union. Yeah. That's rad.

Yeah. Yeah. So their contract was up for renegotiation in 2020, actually. And due to a series of weird things happening, they pushed the negotiations to 2021. They renegotiate their contract every five years. And at stake this year was a sort of pushing back against a recently introduced two-tier employment system that the company sort of strong-armed the union into in 2015, the company sort of strong-armed the union into in 2015, which essentially is not a good deal for anyone. In 2015, they pushed in this sort of two-tier system where one tier is a lower

transitional tier and one tier is a legacy or full-time employee tier. And what it is is it amounts to a difference of $12 an hour and less benefits. Yeah, that's significant. Yes, yes. Dan Osborne recently did an interview with Max Alvarez at Working People Podcast, and he really kind of talked about exactly what was going on there. And there's 1,400 people who work in four plants. There's about 480 employees at the Omaha plant, which has been around for decades.

And essentially what this tier system does is it's capped at 30% of their union workforce. And the whole idea is as these full-time employees retire or quit, then these transitional employees will sort of be funneled into the full-time tier, right? Over the last five years, it hasn't really happened really at all. It was a bad deal from the start, according to many of the workers who sort of felt like they, you know, they were backed into a wall because Kellogg's was threatening to close the Memphis plant if they didn't ratify this negotiated contract.

So rather than experience 500 layoffs in Memphis, they just agreed to it. So they knew going to the negotiating table in 2021 and 2020 that they were going to try and sort of walk that back because these workers all work in the same plant, same days, first, second, third shift. Transitional workers are working side by side with these full-time employees working the same hours, which can amount to seven days a week, 12 to 16 hours a day on mandatory overtime, and they are making $12 an hour less, and they are not getting the benefits that these full-time employees are getting.

So really, these full-time employees are kind of going to bat for the transitional employees. Kellogg's wants to remove the cap, which the union negotiated, which is at 30% of their workforce. They want to do away with that so that they can continue hiring more transitional workers and uh they they want to fuck with the insurance benefits so uh the union tried to negotiate this i think according to the local union president kellogg's negotiators were at the negotiating table for 10 hours, and they negotiated eight hours a day, five days a week for two weeks. Ten hours they were at the table. So they weren't interested in negotiating a contract. They laid out their terms, and they essentially told the union to go kick rocks.

And so the union said, you know, we have until October 5th, and then our contract is up. And if we haven't ratified a new contract, then we're going out on strike. And that's ultimately what happened. So they've been on strike for, this will be their 14th day today. I think the fight against the two-tier system, I think, is an interesting part of this, because that's been a huge part of a lot of the different uh strikes you've been seeing this is for the john deere strikes this is part of the kaiser strikes and yeah i'm wondering what you think specifically about the fact that this is like this is the moment that people have decided to like push back against against two or even three tier systems

that were introduced in the last really like 10 or 15 years for the most part? Well, I think it's just, you know, it's a divide and conquer strategy for Kellogg's or for these other companies. And ultimately what it looks like is it destabilizes well-established unions, especially at Kellogg's. And it pits workers against each other, you know. Particularly at Kellogg's, if they are able to remove this cap on this tier system, what they're essentially doing is they're creating a more precarious workplace for these workers. The turnover rate in the lower tier at the Omaha plant is right around 40 percent.

Wow. And, you know, prior to 2015, you didn't really see a whole lot of people leaving the Kellogg's plant. You know, these were these are workers who are spending their entire careers at this plant. Their parents work there. Their grandparents work there. You know, they because they're all getting paid around the same amount of money, there isn't this tension on the line. So they're working with each other. they're helping each other, right? And with this tier system, what they're doing is they're throwing these newer workers into pretty insane factory conditions

and making it really difficult for them to feel like they have any reason to stay there, right? A lot of these people will, you know, put in, some of these workers were transitional workers who weren't officially hired by the company, you know, that aren't full-time employees, they aren't receiving benefits like the full-time employees are. For five years, they work this every day, seven days a week, three months on end, right? They have this really, you know, punitive attendance-based point system that discourages you calling in sick. There's injuries that happen in the factory all the time.

You know, I went out to the line and wrote a piece for the Real News about this. And pretty much every person I talked to showed me scars from accidents that happened, injuries in the plant. The union president himself got his hand stuck in a mill and broke all the fingers in his hand. He had to have 10 surgeries on his hand. Jesus Christ. There was an accident at the plant two or three weeks ago where a transitional employee got both arms stuck in a conveyor belt, you know. Jesus. The thing is, is these folks super proud of the work that they do.

Like, absolutely 100% take this work extremely seriously. You know, they're not even asking for changes to their overtime. Obviously, you know, they're not even asking for changes to their overtime. They are not asking for, you know, anything that, you know, from me on the outside, I'd be fighting for more humane working conditions. But to them, you know, it's not like it's a point of pride, but they feel that they have put blood, sweat, tears, you know, fractured relationships, time that they could be spending with their children into this factory and kellogg's is essentially fucking them over yeah you know they see it as we have sacrificed for this company for years and years and years um and we are asking for equal pay for all and for everyone to have the same health care so that we can do this job you know and kellogg's is saying no absolutely you know i think um the union president said that some of the negotiators called those demands outlandish during negotiations which i think is just incredible you know just corporate greed yeah i think the other part of the story is that like i mean it's kind of a weird consequence of it but like one of the things one of the consequences

of sort of like rising uh like staple commodity prices like staple grain prices and stuff is that kellogg's like they're doing they have like record they have record profits right now oh yeah and they're still just doing this shit because yeah they made record profits during the pandemic yeah they gave their ceo a pretty hefty raise bonus um there was a stock buyback uh program that helped happened among the c-suite folks last year they made a lot of money a lot of money and you know these workers worked every day through the pandemic, continually understaffed, doing their best. Because, again, they take this job very seriously, and they are proud that they are feeding the American people, and they are proud to work at Kellogg's. And they feel that this contract is just shit. It's just shit. It's just shit.

And the only sensible thing to do is to walk out on strike because they've been backed into a corner and negotiations have stagnated completely. And they don't want to back down from this. And I agree. I feel what they're what they're asking for is fair it's very fair i mean i think it's i i think asking for a lot more would be fair but yeah not my place to be doing one of the things that strikes me about this you talk

about this tier system that kellogg's introduced which i i can't help but think of what happened at John Deere, where they, I think in 96, cut pensions by two thirds and then like last year, eliminated them entirely. And this kind of bid to pit chunks of the workforce against each other, where you have like, you know, different groups making different amounts and sort of like, I don't know, it seems kind of like the strategy that you see in the broader economy, like within the space of a company where you've got like some people who are getting pretty well taken care of in their jobs and other newer people who are getting more screwed over in kind of this attempt to create division within the workforce so that this kind of organizing

doesn't happen. Mm-hmm. I would agree. And you also have to think, if they are able to remove this cap on the transitional tier, what that means is they'll be able to, instead of, say a full-time employee retires, they leave that space empty, but they still need an extra space, an extra person, right? So they can just hire a transitional worker instead of funneling one of those transitional

workers into that full-time space. What ends up happening is suddenly you have, instead of 70% full-time to 30% transitional, it starts tipping, right? It becomes a more precarious workforce. Then, say, for example, they do that in the next five years, now they have 70% of these transitional workers who don't think the union is offering anything for them. They can essentially just offer a better deal to these transitional workers

and kick the union out of the company at some point. And these folks on the line understand that and know that that's kind of kellogg's plan right they know that the kellogg's what kellogg's is trying to do is essentially destabilize the power of the union inside the plants and everyone on the line that i've spoken with know exactly what's happening you know and these full-time employees are out there every day making sure that their transitional, you know, colleagues know that that's why they're out there because they want to not allow this to be something that divides their workforce. It remains to be seen what's going to happen. You know what I mean? Yeah.

They've brought in scabs to get the plant up and running again and most recently uh yesterday this morning yesterday uh the building and construction trades council union met with the union president in omaha uh because they have about 100 third-party iron workers, carpenters, electricians, and skilled tradespeople that are union tradespeople that have contracts at Kellogg's. And they came to what Dan Osborne, the union president, decided was a tough decision that those union workers are going to cross the picket line to honor those contracts so kellogg's is forcing the unions in the city in like into a bind really because they're

they're you know uh gonna lose their own contracts at kellogg's so that's kind of been like the most recent development here is that rather than just temps coming in, we have now skilled union tradespeople from various Omaha unions who are also crossing the picket line to honor their contracts at Kellogg's, you know, past these striking workers. So it's a bit of a mess, a little bit, you know? Yeah. Welcome. I'm Danny Threl. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonora.

An anthology of modern day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes

with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There's so much going on right now. I'm kind of wondering what you think are the, because we've got a number of strikes kind of all coming to a head at the same time. I'm wondering specifically from the Kellogg strike, what do you think are kind of the lessons that should be taken from what's happened so far for the broader labor movement? I think the biggest thing that's kind of impacted me as I've gone to the line, I've stood on the picket line, I've covered these, you know, this strike, I've talked to people, is that when these types of actions happen, they really only can be sustained because the community comes together to support them. You know, these strike funds that are going around and folks showing up to stand on the picket line who are not part of the union are really sort of become, you know, they are helping support these workers who can only hold out so long with finite resources. Right.

cycles of excitement of striketober of you know these people just walked out today well they may you know they may be on the line for months and months on end and the news cycle is going to move on and these communities are still going to have to try and and and back up these labor actions right um you really can't have a true you know you can't have a labor movement without you know support right um and that's kind of been the biggest thing that has impacted me You can't have a labor movement without support, right? And that's kind of been the biggest thing that has impacted me. Particularly, Omaha used to be a really formidable union town. Back in the 80s, it was really something to see. The business unions in the various locals here really had – some of these union leaders had more political power than the mayor, um and that has gone downhill over the last 40 years and it's really cool to see

uh the the level of solidarity that's happening amongst the community you know um in the ways in which people are kind of coming out to talk to and and be a part of this strike and to remind these kellogg's workers that they're not operating in a bubble, you know, and that the rest of the community really hopes that the strike will end quickly and peacefully and with a really good resolution for these workers, you know? One other thing I wanted to ask about in terms of sort of this kind of restriction to the union movements and in terms of sort of this this kind of restriction to the union movement and in in in

terms of sort of community support is the level of violence that there's been against uh like against these strikes like i've seen a lot of like stuff about people getting hit by buses when like and i don't i don't know if i think i think i'm getting my strikes i don't know if they've been direct car attacks on this specific picket line but that's been a thing that it's been happening a lot and i was wondering a couple of documented cases yeah yeah and yeah i was wondering what you think about that and like what actually can be done about the fact that like you know that you know like this just the fact that we're just seeing auto attacks on picket lines

just regularly now i mean that's you know it's a it's a shitty development you know um i was out on the picket line last thursday and um they were attempting to bring in buses at shift change past the picketers who walk slowly. They don't stop in front of the bus. It's illegal to stop and make it so that they can't pass through the gates, but they slowed them down for a little bit. And one gentleman was trying, you know, was standing there and this bus just bumped right into him. You know, there's videos that have been shared through local news of buses knocking down workers as they're trying to cross the picket line. And I, you know, there are also personal vehicles that go through and it could be the private security that's been hired. It could be managers. But vehicle attacks have become sort of more, I don't want to say commonplace, but you see them happening a lot,

both at protests last year and I think Warrior Met Coal had some bosses running through the lines and being reckless with their vehicles. The problem is on the back end, the police don't step in when they see these instances, you know. And in fact, last Thursday, when we had 100 plus motorcyclists from various MCs show up to support the strike, the police were the ones who protected the scabs

and made sure that they made it through the picket line. So, you know, the answer to that, not sure, you know. Yeah, I mean, that's a time-honored police tradition. Yeah. They historically don't exist to protect laborers, with the notable exception of the of uh the the sheriff in uh what was it matter one in uh during the uh um the coal miner strike in west virginia well yeah they shot him so well yeah but he shot some people first yeah um sid hatfield that was the name yeah i don't know

um i've gotten to know some of these folks on the line over the last two weeks and they're just fantastic human beings you know um they are accommodating and hardworking and they come from all age brackets and they bring their families out and um you know they're getting they're getting a raw deal from Kellogg's and, um, so far the community support has been overwhelmingly positive. Um, there hasn't really been like at the John Deere strike, they're not getting eggs thrown at them, you know, um, they get a lot more, uh, honking and messages of support than they do, uh, people driving by to yell at them for, uh, being on strike so that's been nice to see you know um and actually this weekend on saturday um there's gonna be a like cool vintage car show

cruise around kellogg's event that they've got planned the fire department's bringing rigs and Teamsters are... Good for the fire department. Yeah, and the Teamsters are bringing cars and there's a bunch of vintage car clubs that are going to be coming out. So, you know, those types of things have really kind of fired up these people to keep them out on the line

as long as they need to be, you know. So, community's there for them. So community's there for him. Welcome. I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter? Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonora. An anthology of modern day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America.

From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. One of the things I'm continuing to wonder about is what it takes to close the gap between understanding that you and your colleagues are getting screwed over by this system and understanding that you and all of the other people striking at the same time and perhaps even a bunch of people not striking are all kind of fighting the same fight. And then maybe there's grander things to achieve than the negotiation of a single contract, because that seems like the big leap that is going to be the real struggle to clear. Yeah. You know, I will say that some of the workers are fully aware that this is not just about a single contract negotiation and is actually, you know, more about struggles of the working class against corporate greed and the ways in which the working class gets their asses handed to them all the time.

And they know that. They know that at some point, perhaps at some point in the future, someone else is going to look at their example and be inspired by it, right? As far as like, maybe, I don't know, ideologically speaking or politically speaking, for these folks it's uh doesn't fit into any sort of ideology leftist or conservative or whatever everyone's got their own personal politics but they don't really talk about it on the line what they talk about is working class versus ruling class um that you know that's their sense it's corporate greed it's um asshole ceos making 11.6 million dollars a year while they're struggling to pay their own bills you know um yeah and and you know that conversation is more common than um trying to fit this into a larger political movement or revolutionary movement

if that makes sense you You know? Yeah. But I would say that the vast majority of the workers, regardless of their own personal politics, have a very clear sense of where they sit in terms of class consciousness and understand that this is one of the most effective tactics to try and force the hand of these assholes, you know, is to withhold work and withhold their labor. Well, this has been great. I mean, that's everything I had to ask. Chris, anything else? Not that I have.

Is there a call to action we could have for our listeners or pages people should be following? A strike fund? Yeah. Yeah, there's a GoFundMe and there's a PayPal set up for the Omaha Strikers. I believe the BCTGM international page has like a page of each of the strike funds for each of the four plants. So that might be something that you might want to share with your listeners. I can send you an email with that because it's probably going to be easier to do. because it's probably going to be easier to do. But yeah, as far as I know,

BCTGM hasn't called for an official boycott of Kellogg's products. However, they wouldn't be mad if you just didn't buy any right now. There was some talk last week that some of the picketers might, you know, be flyering outside of grocery stores to try and educate the community on what's going on with this strike.

But beyond that, they also are concerned about the quality of the food being produced by scabs, so it probably would be healthy for you to not buy the food, you know, because I think it was in, what, 2018? During a lockout in Memphis, the same company that they brought in then that they're bringing in now pissed in the cereal on the line. And they didn't release video of that for two years after the incident. So it ended up in someone's home. You know, gross.

Yikes. I guess that's some scab shit. That's some scab shit, but even by scab standards. Yeah, that's pretty fucked, right? So yeah, you know, support your local strike fund. And if you are in a city where Kellogg's plant is striking, I am sure those workers would love to hear from you, feel your support. And where can our listeners follow you?

I am on Twitter primarily at ColdBrewedTool. I don't know why I picked that name. But I like it. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't changed that handle since I got on Twitter. But yeah, that's usually where I'm at. Otherwise, I teach locally and have a podcast that I'm developing and do a bunch of different

projects. So Twitter is the best way to get a hold of me if you have questions. Awesome. All right. Thanks for having me on, folks. Thanks for talking to us, Mel. Thanks for joining us. I'll be back at the picket line, you know, talking to these folks.

And I'm going to do my best to keep this shit in the news cycle so that they aren't forgotten. Awesome. We've got a link to the Strike Fund and some other ways to help in the description. So, yeah, this has been It Could Happen Here Pod. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at HappenHerePod and at CoolZone Media for all the rest of our shows. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It Could Happen Here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com slash sources. Thanks for listening. You should probably keep your lights on for Nocturnal Tales from the Shadow Broth. Join me, Danny Trails, and step into the flames of rife. An anthology podcast of modern day horror stories inspired by the most terrifying legends and lore of Latin America. Listen to

Nocturnal on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.