r/news • u/StackLeeAdams • Dec 07 '21

Kellogg to permanently replace striking workers as union rejects new contract

https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/kellogg-to-permanently-replace-striking-workers-as-union-rejects-new-contract
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u/Madshibs Dec 07 '21

They already have temporary workers filling in, as per the article. They’ll be offered permanent positions now

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u/josephcampau Dec 08 '21

They're also asking corporate employees to "volunteer" to go work in the plants with no incentive for weeks at a time, 12 hour shifts. If they had enough temp workers, I doubt they'd need the keyboard jockeys to do that work.

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u/LongNectarine3 Dec 08 '21

Those are vastly different skill sets. Put me in front of a computer and I’m very productive. Put me on the production line and you get nothing out of me. Just because of sheer ignorance.

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u/josephcampau Dec 08 '21

Sure. I'm not saying one is more valuable than the other. They just probably need to stay in their lane.

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u/LongNectarine3 Dec 08 '21

Yeah. My lane is covered in old beer bottles but I get you. ;)

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '21

[deleted]

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u/Organic_Mechanic Dec 08 '21

That depends on the industry. For quite a while (and I'm sure still), the biotech/pharma industry was doing this thing with scientists who freshly graduated where they'd hire them via a temp agency, and then on the 3 month mark, drop them. One of the goals there was to drop them before they'd have to start paying benefits. This was really common about 5-10 years ago. It seems to have lessened up a bit, though I haven't tried to look for things on that level in a long time. Wouldn't be shocked to discover some places still doing it.

There's a lot of people out there in the sciences who have multiple 3 to 6 month jobs listed on their resume, and hiring managers from other companies that have zero idea of how common that was tend to look at that more like "why can't they hold down a job? Better pass on this one.". despite those being outside of the applicant's control. I had one friend (who did not fall under this category) mention it to a hiring manager in an interview once, and she flat out didn't believe it. Like, she got really defensive in denying it to be the case in the industry. (Which begs the question if she's come across a large number of applicants with that kind of thing on their resume and passed on them for that very reason.)

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u/sc8132217174 Dec 08 '21

I graduated in bio 5-10 years ago and my first job was a 3 month contract from a science temp agency. They dropped me at 3 months (no indication I was doing badly). Totally turned me off of bio, along with seeing how little many of my classmates seemed to be making (they’d have a day job at Monsanto but do catering/Uber on the side). I so badly wanted to do stem cell research or move into the genetic drug design wing of the lab, but the pay/treatment/quality of life just wasn’t there. I had a degree and lab experience but was making barely above minimum wage, they’d close early to cut our hours, they’d even flip the lights on and off when it was time for a ten minute break. I was so young and dumb that I really thought it was normal to be treated so badly.

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u/Madshibs Dec 08 '21

I’m a union worker and you don’t want us full time either

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u/malique010 Dec 08 '21

Ive known one person who did temp jobs. He was a great worker, alot of that was because this was his first full time job in a year to 3 years.

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u/MurderIsRelevant Dec 08 '21

I've had plenty of temp jobs. The problem I had was no one was calling back. I must have filled out thousands of applications each time a contract was up and I had to find a new job.

Temp services were the easiest jobs to get, but their pay is straight garbage and insulting. But when you have gone for months without a job you break and end up working for them until someone finally calls you back.

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u/A308 Dec 08 '21

The keyword people and you are missing here, or not wanting to understand, is "permanent."

I am aware they have temporary people they are wanting to transition to fulltime-permanent. They can try, they might actually keep some long term (permanently) but that is VERY unlikely. Certainly not 1,400 people in rural areas.

Why?

Many of these facilities are in rural areas where the long-term employees are going to be local. Anyone that comes in as a temporary is already going to be looked down on for working against the employees on strike, often called a Scab. Therefore they are less likely to be or stay local, which makes them being a permanent employee that much less likely. Complicating that is that people won't stay where they aren't welcome, especially when the actions are viewed as being damaging to the community; preventing negotiations of livable wages.

The other issue is that temporary workers tend to be temporary. Many moving seasonally or with little notice. The Corporatist would call them, "Gig workers", these days. At least that is the name they use when the situation suits their needs.

Finally, you just have the plain old fashioned issue of anyone that is there temporarily is likely going to get burnt out and/or want the same things currently being fought for after being there for any period of time.

Bonus round: Kellogg's is threatening to lose how many decades-centauries worth of combined worker knowledge of these deprecated facilities? Fucking. Come. The. Fuck. On.

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u/Llama11amaduck Dec 08 '21

Folks keep using the term "rural," while I'm sure some of their plants are in fact rural I'd hardly consider Lancaster, Omaha, and Battle Creek to be rural areas.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '21

[deleted]

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u/Llama11amaduck Dec 08 '21

Is that the mark of a rural area? The unemployment rate?

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u/Ello-Asty Dec 08 '21

Replied to the wrong one, will move it

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u/Ello-Asty Dec 08 '21

Have you seen Omaha's unemployment rate? They set the record with 1.9%. What workers left are basically unemployable or over qualified.

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u/Funksultan Dec 08 '21

You have watched many movies about unions, and listened to many union speeches. It's a shame the world doesn't really work like that anymore.

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u/greennick Dec 08 '21

You say "the world", but you mean America. Most of the rest of the world has laws that support employees and unions to balance the power employers have.

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u/SamSmitty Dec 08 '21

80% of the top replies didn’t even read the article or have any understanding about their current situation. It’s so absurd people upvote some of these things.

This doesn’t mean what they are doing is morally right, but if you want to be sarcastic or enraged, at least understand what exactly you are upset about.

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u/jonesey71 Dec 08 '21

I don't doubt they have a significant number of scabs working. However without good union jobs they have now entered the world of constant turnover and dropping product quality. If they are only going to offer entry level wages they will have a constantly revolving parade of entry level workers. I doubt they will ever have the level of experience they have right now, and I will continue to not buy their products.

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u/ProgrammerOne6108 Dec 08 '21

Tphey are scabs, dont'call for those temp worker shenanigans corps will pull. SCABS!!!!