Kellogg workers began striking outside of production plants in four cities (Battle Creek, Michigan.; Omaha, Nebraska; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee) back in early October. About 1,400 employees initially walked out of work after Kellogg and the union that represents them—The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM)—didn’t reach an agreement regarding a new work contract.
Since going on strike, workers have shared stories about absolutely horrifying conditions they have to put up with to keep their jobs at Kellogg, including working 80-hour weeks. Most recently, Kellogg said it’s planning to permanently replace the striking workers. The union issued a statement saying it continues to support their workers on strike—and some social media users are doing their part by swarming Kellogg’s job applications with fake responses. The goal? To clog the system and make it harder for the company to replace union workers.
Trevor Bidelman, who serves as president of BCTGM Local3G and works as an employee at the Battle Creek Kellogg plant, recalled to The Guardian in an interview that last year, workers were “hailed as heroes” for working through the pandemic.
“We don’t have weekends, really,” Bidelman, a fourth-generation Kellogg worker, told the outlet in October. “We just work seven days a week, sometimes 100 to 130 days in a row. For 28 days, the machines run, then rest three days for cleaning. They don’t even treat us as well as they do their machinery.”
As covered by The Daily Dot, a post in the Reddit community r/antiwork has made some serious traction in encouraging folks to submit fake applications for new hires to come in and replace those who are on strike. Because applications are accepted online, it’s apparently pretty easy to fill them out and clog the system. Tens of thousands of users have upvoted the post, which perhaps isn’t surprising given that the community has more than one million members.
“The Unions representing Kellogg employees in these plants are on strike,” one Omaha listing, for example, specifies. “And we are looking for employees to permanently replace them, joining hundreds of Kellogg salaried employees, hourly employees, and contractors to keep the lines running.”
Members of the antiwork community also compiled lists of products made by Kellogg and encouraged people to avoid buying them if at all possible during the strike. And it’s not only Redditors who are engaged. In fact, the sentiment has already spread to TikTok.
One example? As reported by Insider, user Sean Black posted a video explaining a code to TikTok that is intended to essentially spam Kellogg with fake applications. The idea is that the code would autofill application questions and include a filler resume to submit the application.
Local union vice president Kevin Bradshaw spoke to USA Today outside of the Memphis Kellogg plant, saying that workers on strike “didn’t like” the company’s proposal. Bradshaw said that’s the “only issue” that matters.
President of Kellogg North America Chris Hood said in a statement this wasn’t the “result we had hoped for” but that the company must take the “necessary steps” to keep the business going. “We have an obligation to our customers and consumers to continue to provide the cereals that they know and love.”
But what about an obligation to pay workers well, keep them safe, and hire enough people at fair wages so people aren’t burned out and burdened over manufacturing… cereal? Offering at least a glimmer of hope is the fact that this story has gotten so much attention, President Joe Biden issued a statement on the matter on Friday, Dec. 10, expressing his support for unions and saying he is “deeply troubled” by Kellogg’s move to permanently replace striking workers.
Permanently replacing striking workers is an existential attack on the union and its members’ jobs and livelihoods,” Biden’s statement reads in part, adding that he has “long opposed” strike replacements and, in fact, supports legislation that would ban the practice. Biden went on to stress that unions “built the middle class” in the United States and that he continues to support unions and collective bargaining.
Since going on strike, workers have shared stories about absolutely horrifying conditions they have to put up with to keep their jobs at Kellogg, including working 80-hour weeks. Most recently, Kellogg said it’s planning to permanently replace the striking workers. The union issued a statement saying it continues to support their workers on strike—and some social media users are doing their part by swarming Kellogg’s job applications with fake responses. The goal? To clog the system and make it harder for the company to replace union workers.
Trevor Bidelman, who serves as president of BCTGM Local3G and works as an employee at the Battle Creek Kellogg plant, recalled to The Guardian in an interview that last year, workers were “hailed as heroes” for working through the pandemic.
“We don’t have weekends, really,” Bidelman, a fourth-generation Kellogg worker, told the outlet in October. “We just work seven days a week, sometimes 100 to 130 days in a row. For 28 days, the machines run, then rest three days for cleaning. They don’t even treat us as well as they do their machinery.”
As covered by The Daily Dot, a post in the Reddit community r/antiwork has made some serious traction in encouraging folks to submit fake applications for new hires to come in and replace those who are on strike. Because applications are accepted online, it’s apparently pretty easy to fill them out and clog the system. Tens of thousands of users have upvoted the post, which perhaps isn’t surprising given that the community has more than one million members.
“The Unions representing Kellogg employees in these plants are on strike,” one Omaha listing, for example, specifies. “And we are looking for employees to permanently replace them, joining hundreds of Kellogg salaried employees, hourly employees, and contractors to keep the lines running.”
Members of the antiwork community also compiled lists of products made by Kellogg and encouraged people to avoid buying them if at all possible during the strike. And it’s not only Redditors who are engaged. In fact, the sentiment has already spread to TikTok.
One example? As reported by Insider, user Sean Black posted a video explaining a code to TikTok that is intended to essentially spam Kellogg with fake applications. The idea is that the code would autofill application questions and include a filler resume to submit the application.
Local union vice president Kevin Bradshaw spoke to USA Today outside of the Memphis Kellogg plant, saying that workers on strike “didn’t like” the company’s proposal. Bradshaw said that’s the “only issue” that matters.
President of Kellogg North America Chris Hood said in a statement this wasn’t the “result we had hoped for” but that the company must take the “necessary steps” to keep the business going. “We have an obligation to our customers and consumers to continue to provide the cereals that they know and love.”
But what about an obligation to pay workers well, keep them safe, and hire enough people at fair wages so people aren’t burned out and burdened over manufacturing… cereal? Offering at least a glimmer of hope is the fact that this story has gotten so much attention, President Joe Biden issued a statement on the matter on Friday, Dec. 10, expressing his support for unions and saying he is “deeply troubled” by Kellogg’s move to permanently replace striking workers.
Permanently replacing striking workers is an existential attack on the union and its members’ jobs and livelihoods,” Biden’s statement reads in part, adding that he has “long opposed” strike replacements and, in fact, supports legislation that would ban the practice. Biden went on to stress that unions “built the middle class” in the United States and that he continues to support unions and collective bargaining.