U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaks to striking workers at grain maker Kellogg in Battle Creek, Mich., December 17, 2021 (AFP / SETH HERALD)
Senator Bernie Sanders, a figure of the American left, went Friday to meet employees of the famous cereal manufacturer Kellogg on strike since early October, thanking them for their fight “against corporate greed”.
The strikers had already received last week the support of US President Joe Biden, who had openly criticized in a statement the management’s decision to hire people to replace some 1,400 workers on sick leave at four sites in the United States. .
Bernie Sanders visited the group’s headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders speaks to striking workers at grain maker Kellogg in Battle Creek, Mich., December 17, 2021 (AFP / SETH HERALD)
“Let me tell Kellogg that we cannot treat the people who have dedicated their lives to the company by threatening to be replaced permanently,” he said in front of the strikers and their supporters. gathered for the occasion.
The strikers, who oppose above all the maintenance of several categories of employees who do not have access to the same benefits, rejected at the beginning of December an agreement negotiated between the management and the union representing them.
After a series of negotiations, a new agreement was finalized on Thursday and will be submitted to the strikers’ vote by Monday, according to a statement from the company.
“I am here today because you had the incredible courage to face corporate greed,” Sanders said following interventions by several strikers. “All over this country, workers are looking at you and thanking you for your courage,” he added to applause.
Placards during a strike by workers at cereal maker Kellogg in Battle Creek, Mich., On December 17, 2021 (AFP / SETH HERALD)
A figure on the left wing of the Democratic Party, Mr. Sanders regularly attacks companies making big profits and paying their executives handsomely while increasing little in the wages of their employees or by relocating jobs abroad.
“If you love the United States then you have to love its workers,” the senator said from the podium, urging American companies not to relocate their jobs to Mexico.
The start of the strike by Kellogg employees coincided with several other labor movements in the country, including the more than a month’s work stoppage of around 10,000 workers at tractor manufacturer John Deere. The word “Striketober”, a contraction of “strike” and “October”, had then appeared on social networks.
© 2021 AFP
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