An 11-week strike at Kellogg’s plants in Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Tennessee is over, and 1,400 strikers returned to work as of Dec. 27. The strike was a pretty clear win for members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers (BCTGM), because it broke a decade-old cycle of concessionary bargaining. Their new contract provides an immediate $1.10 wage increase, renews a plant closure moratorium, and maintains employer-provided healthcare with no premiums, co-pays, or out of pocket costs. Just as importantly, Kellogg’s backed off its proposal to form a new tier of less-well-compensated workers.
Kellogg’s had an existing two-tier system, and the new contract phases it out: Workers with over four years of service now become “legacy” workers at full pay and benefits, and each year thereafter, 3% more workers in the plant become legacy, ending two-tier within six years.
-Don McIntosh
