Today's AFL-CIO Press Clips
JOINING TOGETHER
The Nabisco Workers Who Make Your Oreos And Ritz Crackers Are On Strike
HuffPost
Dave Jamieson
August 17, 2021
Workers and union representatives say the strike follows years of frustration with Mondelez, which was created in 2012 when Nabisco products were spun off from Kraft Foods. Mondelez is demanding changes to pay and health care coverage that would undermine what have long been solid, middle-class production and trucking jobs, they say. “We’re not on strike to secure huge gains. We’re on strike to keep what we’ve already got,” said Cameron Taylor, the business agent at BCTGM Local 364, which represents workers at the Portland plant. “The job they want to give us wouldn’t even be worth fighting for.”
Oreo Makers in Northeast Portland Launch a National Strike
Willamette Week
By Sophie Peel
August 18, 2021
Union vice president Mike Burlingham says nothing new is being produced at the bakery during the strike, but cookies and crackers already packaged are still being loaded onto trucks. “At this time, there aren’t any lines running,” Burlingham says.
Nabisco Workers Are on Strike in Three States
Jacobin
By Alex N. Press
August 18, 2021
When workers at a Frito-Lay production plant in Topeka, Kansas, went on strike last month, they threw into relief the fact that the increased pandemic-era snacking that has boosted profits for PepsiCo, Frito-Lay’s parent company, has come courtesy of working conditions so bad as to lead to suicides and divorces. Now, workers are on strike at another snack-food company, one responsible for Oreos, Triscuits, Planters nuts, and Ritz crackers — Nabisco. Workers at a Nabisco bakery in Portland, Oregon, went on strike on August 10. They have been working twelve-to-sixteen-hour shifts, with some working seven days a week.
Nabisco workers go on strike against outsourcing, longer hours
Axios
By Yacob Reyes
August 18, 2021
Hundreds of workers at Nabisco — the maker of popular snacks like Oreo cookies and Chips Ahoy! — have gone on strike, citing concerns about the "outsourcing of jobs to Mexico," and demands of contract concessions from parent company Mondelēz. State of play: The strike began with a work stoppage and 24-hour picket lines at a location in Portland, Oregon, before spreading to Aurora, Colorado, and Richmond, Virginia. The workers are part of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), which announced the strike.
IN THE STATES
'The responsible thing to do': Pittsburgh's Labor Day parade canceled for second year in a row
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Julian Routh
August 18, 2021
For the second straight year, Pittsburgh’s big Labor Day parade — the largest in the U.S. — has been canceled. “We’ve always stated the safety of men and women, our members, as well as the public, will always be our No. 1 commitment,” said Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council, in announcing the cancellation early Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Kelly cited rising COVID-19 cases as the reason for the cancellation.
Rich would want us to not miss a beat
NW Labor Press
By Graham Trainor
August 18, 2021
After the difficult news of his passing, I began watching, rewatching, and reading a number of his speeches that have inspired me at different points in my career. One that I’ve come back to frequently was the speech he gave at the United Steelworkers convention in 2008, a speech about racism in America and the critically important role our movement must play to tackle it and dismantle it everywhere we see it, a speech and message that is as important today as it’s ever been. “There’s no evil that’s inflicted more pain and more suffering than racism, and it’s something we in the labor movement have a special responsibility to challenge,” he said in that speech. This was just one of countless speeches or actions where his hatred of any form of bigotry and intolerance, strategies used to divide working people, was obvious. Rich was a friend of Oregon’s labor movement. He always had our backs. Whether it was blasting dangerous free trade deals to Oregon press or inspiring us to always prioritize organizing and growth at several summits he joined us for, his support for Oregon labor was unwavering.
We mourn Richard Trumka, and will fight in his memory
Amsterdam News
By Stuart Appelbaum
August 19, 2021
The world lost a tireless fighter for working people on Aug. 5, when AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka passed away. At the RWDSU, we often saw first-hand the dedication of a man who was willing to go toe to toe with anybody if it meant defending the rights of working people and creating a fairer and more equitable society where all of us have our voices heard, not just the wealthiest and most powerful. After being elected president of the AFL-CIO in 2011, Rich’s first trip to New York was to stand with RWDSU members at the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx to demand living wages, especially at projects funded with taxpayer money. In Williamson, New York, he was there on the front lines to stand side-by-side with hundreds of striking RWDSU members at the Mott’s applesauce plant. Richard Trumka’s vocal support helped the workers win their strike against a corporate employer that was trying to slash wages and benefits despite enjoying record profits.
Labor Day parade and CASI run canceled due to COVID-19
Quad City-Times
By Anthony Watt
August 18, 2021
The upcoming East Moline Labor Day Parade and the Center For Active Seniors’ St. Patrick’s Day 5K race have both been canceled. The parade, scheduled for Sept. 6, was canceled because of reports of increasing COVID-19 cases in the area, particularly among young adults and children, according to a news release from the Quad City Federation of Labor AFL-CIO.