About 1,400 striking Kellogg workers have ratified a new contract, according to their union reports The New York Times, ending a strike that began in early October and affected four of the company’s U.S. cereal plants.
“Our striking members at Kellogg’s ready-to-eat cereal production facilities courageously stood their ground and sacrificed so much in order to achieve a fair contract,” Anthony Shelton, the president of the workers’ union, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, said in a statement. “This agreement makes gains and does not include any concessions.”
The company’s two-tier compensation system was the main point of contention throughout the negotiations. Prior to yesterday’s resolution, the compensation system allowed for workers hired after 2015 to receive lower wages and less generous benefits than veteran workers. In the article, Kellogg shared that the longer-tenured workers make more than $35 an hour on average, while the more recent workers average just under $22 per hour.
Veteran workers fought against this system as it put downward pressure on their wages and benefits because they could effectively be outvoted or replaced with newer, cheaper workers. Full Story
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