Nabisco Strike: Workers Slam Snack Company Amid Contract Negotiations, ‘Enough Is Enough’

Workers at Nabisco plants in the U.S. have gone on strike amid bitter union contract negotiations with the parent company Mondelez International, Inc.

Roughly 200 workers in Portland went on strike on Aug. 10. Over the course of the next nine days, they were joined by plant union workers in Chicago, as well as Aurora, Colorado, and Richmond, Virginia.

Those who went on strike are members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International (BCTGM) Union. Recently, employees have been at odds with Nabisco after the snack company raked in billions in profits and paid the CEO of Mondelez $16.8 million.

Meanwhile, the company’s median employee receives an annual income of about $31,000. Some of the changes Mondelez proposed in the new contract negotiations with the union include 12-hour days without overtime and increased mandatory work on the weekends without compensation.

“It’s greed. They don’t have any respect for their workers that gave them the opportunity to make that kind of money. We’re peons to them, and everyone is at the point where enough is enough,” said Darlene Carpenter, the business agent of BCTGM local 358 in Richmond.

“We’re at the point where we’re saying this is how the cookie is going to crumble now because we can’t do this.”

Members of the union also believe the company tried to cut costs in 2021 by closing down factories and deciding to open plants in Mexico, allegations that Mondelez International Inc. has denied.

“We can’t compete with the Mexican workers,” said Cameron Taylor of Local 364 in Portland. “They just want to exploit cheap labor. If we were to accept all of what they want us to, accept all the working conditions and the two-tiered system of healthcare, this job would turn into a job not even worth fighting for.”

In a statement, Mondelez International Inc. claimed they were “disappointed” with the unions’ decision to strike but were committed to negotiating a new contract that would provide employees with “good wages and competitive benefits."

The Nabisco strike comes after Frito-Lay workers returned to work in late July after a 19-day strike.