Kellogg's workers strike over new labor contract, 2021

The Kellogg Company (Kellogg's) was an American multinational food manufacturer that massively profited from its lines of breakfast cereals. Kellogg's operated four major cereal plants in the United States: Battle Creek, Michigan; Omaha, Nebraska; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee. While Battle Creek, Michigan, has long been the center of Kellogg's cereal production and home to its headquarters, the company announced in June 2022 that it would relocate its headquarters to Chicago, Illinois. Across Kellogg's facilities, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers' International Union (BCTGM) is a prominent labor union representing about 1,400 workers. Since the 2010s, tensions between Kellogg's and BCTGM  grew after the 2013 lockout Kellogg's initiated, which ended with more than 100 workers fired. On 8 September and 9, 2021, talks between both parties evolved into a disagreement over cost-of-living adjustments, wages, and healthcare benefits for Kellogg’s employees.

On 5 October 2021, under the organization of BCTGM local unions, more than 1400 workers gathered across the four Kellogg's facilities at 1 a.m., one hour after Kellogg's five-year master contract with the BCTGM union expired. The Union established a list of demands: (1) abolish the two-tier wage system (with legacy workers making $35 per hour and new hires making $13 less), (2) no reductions in health care, retirement, and vacation benefits, and (3) include cost-of-living adjustments. The company’s contract classified all employees with four or more years experience at Kellogg’s as legacy workers. 

Union workers at all four facilities formed picket lines and chanted holding signs that said "Kellogg's on strrr-ike!" appropriating a famous Kellogg’s advertisement. Fourteen hundred workers, which made up 30% of the workforce at Kellogg's cereal production plants in 2021, refused to work on the production lines and blockaded trucks and temporary agency employees. In response to the strike, Kellogg's spokesperson, Kris Bahner, expressed her frustration against the campaign in a released statement: "We are disappointed by the union's decision to strike. Kellogg's provides compensation and benefits for our U.S. RTEC (ready-to-eat cereal) employees, who are among the industry's best. Our offer includes increases to pay and benefits for our employees, helping us meet the challenges of the changing cereal business."

On 14 October, in a collectively issued press release, Nebraska legislature members, including Carol Blood, Megan Hunt, Mike McDonnell, and Tony Vargas, supported the strikers and urged Kellogg's to negotiate sincerely with the union. Throughout the strike and picketing, families and community members continuously supported the campaign with food and care. However, news outlets reported the next day that Kellogg's had posted an ad offering potential long-term employment to workers willing to "cross the picket line" and assist with production during the strike. According to the union, Kellogg's threatened to cut or move hundreds of jobs to Mexico if workers disagreed with the proposed terms. 

2021 Kellogg strike in Battle Creek, Michigan

(Photo credit: EvelynKelly1234 [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa)]

Workers continued their strikes, protests, and picketing and blocking temporary workers for the next two weeks. The strike started to gain national momentum and widespread media coverage. A later report showed that Kellogg's North American division reported net sales declined by 2% due to the negative impact of supply disruptions. While the workers carried out their campaign, Kellogg's proposed new offers to the Union and found alternative workers to maintain production. On 4 November, BCTGM negotiators announced they had declined Kellogg's latest proposal. The union highlighted that the company had not fully achieved the union members' demands and has a history of employment exploitation, including working overtime, lack of work benefits, wage discrimination, and unfair relocation.

A week later, on 11 November, the company filed a lawsuit against the Omaha, Nebraska BCTGM local union on the charges that the striking workers blocked the entrances to the plant and refrained from allowing temporary workers to enter the facility. This lawsuit never reached a conclusion and several media outlets, including The Guardian, Cable News Network, and Associated Press News, deemed the suit a method of intimidation.

On 2 December, Kellogg's management and BCTGM established a tentative agreement for a five-year contract that altered the two-tiered wage structure (increasing wages of new hires and granting them promotion channels to becoming a legacy worker) and expanded working benefits. However, three days later, most union members voted to reject this tentative agreement. Several workers pointed to the slow promotion timeline under the two-tiered wage system and the unfairness of the company's structure as reasons for their votes against the tentative agreement. Two days after the union's no-deal vote, Kellogg's management again threatened to replace all 1,400 workers who participated in the strike. Nevertheless, the workers continued their strikes and picketing at the four facilities and refused to take down their blockades, significantly impacting the plants' productivity. 

On 21 December, nearly all of Kellogg's striking workers ratified the latest proposed collective bargaining agreement and ended the 77-day strike. The agreement included a 3% increase: Veterans' salaries would immediately increase by $1.10 per hour, while new workers would see their pay rise to just over $24 per hour. Also, the company expanded cost-of-living wage adjustments to cover all employees each year.

The campaign led to considerable wage increases and other adjustments, especially for the cost-of-living adjustments. While the union's primary goal of abolishing the two-tiered wage system and its supplemental work benefits demands failed to be entirely incorporated by Kellogg's, the company promised an impermanent two-tiered wage system that included a waiting list of workers that would be eventually moved to Tier 1 (legacy worker pay) and a clear path to full employment. Overall, BCTGM and the union membership were generally satisfied with the five-year bargaining agreement. Anthony Shelton, president of the Union, celebrated the strikers for their efforts “to achieve a fair contract” and emphasized the deal “[did] not include any concessions.”