https://socialistaction.org/2016/05/23/nabisco-workers-protest-layoffs-and-downsizing/
Nabisco workers protest layoffs and downsizing
/ 17 hours ago
June 2016 Nabisco 1
By MARK UGOLINI
A spirited and determined group of about 150 current and former Nabisco
bakery workers and their supporters demonstrated on May 18 at Mondelez
International’s annual shareholder meeting in Lincolnshire, Ill. Workers
protested the company’s decision to lay off 600 of the 1200 workers at
its Southwest side Chicago plant.
Mondelez International is the parent company of Nabisco, which makes
snack foods including Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers. They have recently
opened a modern plant in Salinas, Mexico, where they have invested $130
million, and plan to transfer some of the Chicago Nabisco plant’s
production there. In 2015, Mondelez posted over $30 billion in revenue.
The protest was organized by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers
and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) and its Chicago Local 300,
which represents most of the workers at the Chicago plant.
BCTGM workers from locals in Cleveland; Atlanta, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and
Battle Creek, Mich., participated, as well as supporters from the
Chicago Teachers Union, UAW local 551, Fight for $15, and Jobs for Justice.
Prior to a rally, I spoke with BCTGM Local 300 President Edward Burpo,
who described what the union is facing: “277 received their notification
of pink slip on Jan. 19. They were let go on March 23. Another 43 have
received their notification of pink slip and they are designated to be
let go on May 27.” He told me that the union expects another round of
layoffs prior to Labor Day, and by the end of the year a total of 600
bakery workers will have lost their jobs.
“They are downsizing the plant itself,” Burpo said, “At the end of July
we should be downsized from 17 lines to six, and the equipment is
already being taken out.”
Workers at the protest were demanding that Mondelez shareholders reverse
the decision of CEO Irene Rosenfeld and reinstate the laid-off workers.
A delegation of union members went inside the shareholders meeting to
present their case.
Reporting on the shareholders meeting, the Chicago Tribune said that for
the first time since the layoffs were announced, Rosenfeld fielded
questions from laid-off workers. Many of the questions pertained to the
company’s massive profits and Rosenfeld’s obscenely high compensation.
At the rally outside Jethro Head, International Vice-President of
BCTGM-Midwest told the crowd: “We are here this morning to identify the
core of corporate greed. … In essence we are here to indict
Mondelez-Nabisco [CEO] Irene Rosenfeld for corporate gluttony, an
obsessive and outrageous feeding at America’s economic trough. Today,
Irene Rosenfeld will receive another $20 million payday. That means she
will have been paid $185 million in the last nine years. That ain’t all,
my sisters and brothers. In her back pocket she’s got another $35
million pension.”
I spoke briefly with 51-year-old Rodney Beasley, one of the laid-off
workers hoping his job and those of his co-workers would be reinstated.
Beasley worked eight years for Nabisco, and prior to that, 23 years with
Nabisco’s sister company, Entenmann’s Bakery. He told me: “They [the
union] are doing whatever they can to keep our jobs. Right now they are
currently in negotiations with the company … on the contract and to get
as many of us back to work as possible. … That’s our hope and our prayer.”
Apparently, Rosenfeld has already dashed these hopes. The Chicago
Tribune reported on her comments during the shareholders meeting:
“Rosenfeld emphasized that the jobs were cut and not coming back.”
Unfortunately, some speakers and some signs and banners at the rally
conveyed a nationalistic “America First” and protectionist “Buy
American” tone. Said Jethro Head, reflecting the view of the
International union leadership: “Let’s send a message across the
country—Do Not Buy Mexican-made Nabisco Products!” He then led the crowd
in chanting, “Mexico Hell No!” Many in the crowd did not participate in
this chant.
The problem with this approach is that it appeals to American
chauvinism, and paints Mexican workers as the enemy of working people in
this country. It poses the issue as one of competition between Mexican
and U.S. workers, and aids ruling-class efforts to divide working people
from each other.
In fact, our struggle is one with Mexican workers in demanding that our
capitalist governments provide good jobs for all and union rights
regardless of which side of the boarder we happen to live on.
Revolutionary socialists are internationalists, working to build
solidarity among workers everywhere.
To fight against unemployment and for good paying jobs, we demand
government-funded public-works programs. These can rebuild badly needed
infrastructure, build things we need—like housing and schools—and put
millions of unemployed back to work at union wages.
This program includes immigrant workers as well. Part of the struggle is
to demand an end to deportations and all forms of scapegoating of
immigrant workers, and to extend to them “legal protections” afforded to
other citizens.
.
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May 23, 2016 in Chicago, Immigration, Labor, Uncategorized. Tags:
Mondalez, Nabisco
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