Omaha officials talking to Kellogg in hopes of warding off plant closure that would cost 450 jobs

[Omaha Steve]

REBECCA S. GRATZ/THE WORLD-HERALD
The Kellogg Co. plant at 9601 F St. The company says it will have no choice but to close one of its four U.S. cereal plants if it cannot cut costs.

POSTED: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 1:00 AM
By Barbara Soderlin / World-Herald staff writer

Omaha labor and economic development leaders are talking with Kellogg Co. in hopes of avoiding a plant closure that would put more than 450 highly paid manufacturing employees out of work.

Kellogg said this month it would have no choice but to announce the closure of one of its four U.S. cereal plants “in the very near future” if it cannot cut costs. The company cited declining cereal sales and too much production capacity in its plants, where workers are paid $28 on average and, including overtime, earn more than $85,000 a year.

The threat comes after unionized employees in Omaha and in Michigan, Tennessee and Pennsylvania in December overwhelmingly voted against a contract proposal that would have kept all the plants open in some capacity at least through October 2018.

The contract would have created a new group of lower-paid “transitional” workers for up to 30 percent of the “core” workforce, eliminated cost-of-living raises and placed new limits on retiree health care benefits, among other changes. It would not have cut pay for existing workers, who would still see “the best wages and benefits in the industry,” Kellogg said.

FULL story at link.

Good union jobs are the gateway for many to the middle class.

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Ugly trend in the food industry,

assume these jobs will go to their Mexico plant or they will Job their products to some Non Union Contract Plant. Same thing happened to Ralston and their Chex brand.

[dilby]

2. Food industry needs to bite the bullet and just increase their prices.

I know Americans love their cheap foods but they are getting that cheap food on the backs of slave labor.

[Omaha Steve]

3. Actually they don't, stock info from TODAY'S market close up

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=K

Closing stock price from today: Kellogg Company (K) -NYSE

63.79 per share 4:04PM EST

After Hours : 63.91 Up 0.12 (0.19%) 4:57PM EST That means up .12 cents since the market closed on instinet. Only BIG traders get to use that.


Go to the maximum chart. December of 1984 the stock price per share was $5.00 adjusted for splits. In thirty years it is up over TWELVE times that price. And the dividend is almost $2.00 per share.

This company is in great shape. They are just shaking down the workers. The new ALL-AMERICAN corporate way!

OS

[glasshouses]

4. They should take the deal

This plant closing will just be the start.

They will close all 4 and move them to Mexico