Kellogg’s announced Tuesday that a majority of the company’s U.S. workers voted against a proposed five-year contract, leading the company to decide to hire permanent replacements for the workers who have been on strike for more than two months.
While the negotiations were taking place, the company hired temporary employees to work at plants in Tennessee, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska.
“After 19 negotiation sessions in 2021, and still no deal reached, we will continue to focus on moving forward to operate our business,” Kellogg’s North America President Chris Hood said in a statement.
Hood said the length of the work stoppage left the company no choice but to move forward in its next phase of its “contingency plan.”
The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which represents the approximately 1,400 workers on strike, released a statement saying it would give “full support to our striking Kellogg’s members.”
Around 1,400 Kellogg’s workers walked off the job Oct. 5 at four plants across the U.S. — in Battle Creek, Mich.; Memphis, Tenn.; Omaha, Neb.; and Lancaster, Pa. — after the company and the union could not agree on the terms of a new contract after the prior one expired.
Kellogg’s had been toying with the idea of replacing the striking workers with permanent employees as union negotiations stalled weeks into the strike.
In the proposed five-year agreement announced last week, the new contract would have included a 3% wage hike for legacy employees as well as increases for “transitional” workers and new hires depending on seniority status in the company.
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