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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Work at all of the Kellogg Company’s U.S. grain factories was halted on Tuesday as around 1,400 workers went on strike, but it was not immediately clear how much the Frosted Flakes supply or of any of the company’s products other iconic brands would be disrupted.
The strike includes factories in Omaha, Nebraska, Battle Creek, Michigan; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee.
The union and the Battle Creek-based company have been at an impasse at the bargaining table for more than a year, said Daniel Osborn, president of the local Omaha union. The dispute involves an assortment of pay and benefits issues such as health care bonuses, paid time off and reduced vacation time, and Osborn said the company threatened to move some jobs to Mexico. .
“A lot of Americans probably don’t have too much of a problem with the Nike or Under Armor hats made elsewhere or even in our vehicles, but when they start making our food where it’s out of the control of the FDA and the OSHA, I have a huge problem with this, ”Osborn said.
The company insists its offer is fair and would increase the salaries and benefits of its employees who it says earned an average of $ 120,000 a year last year.
“We are disappointed with the union’s decision to strike. Kellogg provides compensation and benefits to our US employees with ready-to-eat cereal that are among the best in the industry, ”Kellogg spokesperson Kris Bahner said in a statement.
Osborn said he expects the company to try to bring non-union workers into factories at some point this week to try to resume operations and maintain the supply of its products.
The factories all continued to operate throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but Osborn said that for much of that time, workers were working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week to maintain production as so many people were absent because of the virus.
“The level we were working at is unbearable,” Osborn said.
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