October, 28 2021, 12:00pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Michael Briggs: (202) 228-6492
Sanders Leads Letter with Senators in Support of Striking Kellogg Workers
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Thursday, along with six of his Senate colleagues, sent a letter to Kellogg CEO Steve Cahillane in support of the workers striking for better wages and working conditions across the company's factories in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and Tennessee.
WASHINGTON
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Thursday, along with six of his Senate colleagues, sent a letter to Kellogg CEO Steve Cahillane in support of the workers striking for better wages and working conditions across the company's factories in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and Tennessee.
"Over the past several weeks, we have been closely following the efforts of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers (BCTGM) workers who have gone on strike at the Kellogg's cereal plants in Battle Creek, Omaha, Lancaster, and Memphis," the senators wrote. "We write you today to express our strong support for their goals and to express our sincere hope that a fair contract will be reached as soon as possible between the Kellogg Company and BCTGM."
Sanders and his colleagues, Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), urgently reminded Cahillane that this strike comes after Kellogg workers and their families have been on the frontlines of feeding families across the globe during this terrible pandemic, working longer hours for less benefits and in worse conditions, all while the company and its leadership raked in record corporate profits.
"Mr. Cahillane: During the peak of the global pandemic, in 2020, your company's profits grew by over 25 percent," the senators wrote. "In addition, it has been reported that your compensation was an extremely generous $12 million last year. Let's be clear. Those company profits did not occur by accident. They occurred because your employees were on the job, working tirelessly in the midst of a pandemic, providing food security for families across the world. Now, at a time when Kellogg is making record profits, the company wishes to diminish the security and wellbeing of its workers, rather than improve them. That's just not right. Your employees deserve better."
The ongoing Kellogg strike comes amidst a wave of worker protests across industries and states, including some 185 strikes at 255 locations this year, at least 40 of which occurred this month alone.
Read the full letter here.
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