Tension is brewing at WK Kellogg’s Memphis Plant as union representatives say the company is not following contract agreements as it scales back the workforce there.
Michigan-based WK Kellogg announced last year it would scale back operations in Memphis. As they’ve implemented those, leaders with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) are concerned that the company “has refused to engage in meaningful, good-faith negotiations.”
The union said the company is disregarding rules in the collective bargaining agreement that “threaten to ignore plant seniority in determining job placements.”
“Seniority is not a suggestion, it is a negotiated contractual right,” representatives of BCTGM Local 252G said in a Monday statement. “When a company chooses to ignore seniority because it is more convenient or profitable, it is attacking the foundation of collective bargaining.”
Union leaders said they have presented proposals “designed to preserve jobs, honor contractual seniority, reduce the impact of layoffs, and ensure qualified bargaining unit employees are given opportunities before outside contractors or less senior employees.” However, they say those efforts have been “met with resistance rather than cooperation.”
“No company has ever become successful without the dedication of its workforce,” the union said in a statement. “Yet WK Kellogg appears willing to cast aside the very employees who built this plant simply to maximize its bottom line. That is not responsible corporate leadership — it is corporate greed.”
The union said it will continue to watch and document the company’s actions. It will also pursue legal avenues if the company violates the bargaining agreement.
