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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 2018)
S tre e t R o o ts • J a n . 1 2 -1 8 , 2 0 1 8 News Page 5 B A K E R Y , fro m p a g e 4 the label, and others are stamped with a processing code that includes the initials of the factory where the snack was made. The Portland bakery’s code, for example, is “AH,” while products made in Mexico carry “MM” or “MS.” The campaign is also encouraging consumers to tell store managers to stock only U.S.-made Nabisco products. However, that strategy has proven less than fruitful locally. “We go into stores and tell them that these products are made in Mexico,” said Taylor at the BCTGM Local 364. “They don’t care.” Guzzinati said stores pay the same price for Mondelez products regardless of where they were manufactured. At the roundtable We go into stores discussion in the Northeast and tell them that Portland church, some bakery these products are employees, including a laid-off made in Mexico. worker who had traveled from rr They don't care. Chicago, said closures and CAMERON TAYLOR, layoffs were hitting African- B C T G M LO C AL. 3 6 4 American and Latino R E P R E S E N TA TIV E communities particularly hard. Kennedy is one of several employees still working at the Portland bakery who was hired in 1992, when Nabisco received a tax incentive to hire residents in the predominantly African- American neighborhood that bordered the facility. Another Mondelez employee who was hired at that time, Charlotte England, said there are many single mothers who rely on their job at the Portland bakery to support their children. Since 2008, Oregon has given the plant’s operator more than a half-million dollars in tax credits and rebates, according to Good Jobs First’s online subsidy tracker. In all, Mondelez has received more than $91 million in public subsidies from state and local governments in the U.S. since 1993. On Nov. 16, the union’s campaign, which has the backing of the AFL-CIO, held a national day of action with protesters in P H O T O BY E M IL Y GREEN L am ar Kennedy speaks at a Sept. 2 7 news conference at St. Charles Borromeo Church. He has worked at the Nabisco/ Mondelez bakery on Northeast Columbia Boulevard for 25 years. He is also the pastor at Church o f God in Christ. Portland gathered outside a Walmart to spread awareness of the boycott of Mexico- made Nabisco snacks. This past summer, the Portland bakery experienced a weeklong shutdown when Mondelez told workers no more inventory was needed. Production in Mexico, however, continued during that time, workers said. They also reported temporary reductions in production that meant fewer hours to go around. As of the beginning of 2018, Taylor said, Mondelez employees in Portland are “in a holding pattern,” while they live in constant fear that each day of work might be their last. Adding insult to injury, bakery workers were shocked when they arrived at work during a snack sale for employees in September. It was “a product sale for the things that we make, and some of the other bakeries make,” Kennedy said. “They had the nerve to bring in products from Mexico to sell to us, the employees!” A handful of U.S. lawmakers have taken Ì action in response to workers’ concerns. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote to Mondelez’s outgoing CEO Rosenfeld in June to express dissatisfaction with the company’s shift of production to Mexico. He also asked the company to share its long term plans for investment in America’s workforce. According to Wyden’s office, a Mondelez representative responded to his request verbally, conveying that the company remained committed to the Portland bakery. In December, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) was among a group of five congressmen who signed off on a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, urging him, in part, to push for better labor standards in Mexico and reduce incentives for offshoring while re-negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement. The congressmen pointed to Mondelez’s actions as an example of why these changes are important if the U.S. wants to save manufacturing jobs. emily@streetroots.org; Twitter @greenwrites æ CHECK THE LABEL: WHAT TO LOOK FOR Workers and Grain Millers The Bakery, Confectionery, T union's “Check the Label” campaign encourages consumers buy only those Nabisco products that are still made in th e 1 x> <• 5 »< vA. SSSySM K SsSK v States. The graphic below, produced by the BCTGM union, shows consumers the codes to look for. For more information, visit fightforamericanjobs.org. v* ) s ' are TWO ways Io tell if your Nabisco snacks are MADE IN MEXICO: _ is Chec the words “Made in Mexico’ check the plant identification code: Monterrey, E I fa linas, Mexico m land, Ore Fairlawn, N J Richmond, Va. Naperville, III. G R A P H IC C O U R T E S Y O F B C T G M
