Battle Creek-based Kellogg Has Reached Tentative Deal with Union

It looks like a strike at Battle Creek-based Kellogg Company could be coming to an end soon. On Thursday morning, several media outlets announced that the Kellogg Company has reached a tentative agreement with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers International Union.

According to the tentative agreement, a new five-year contract would be implemented which would cover 1,400 employees at the cereal maker's plants in Battle Creek, Michigan, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Memphis, Tennessee, and Omaha, Nebraska.

Here is what is included in that agreement:

Accelerated, defined path for Transitional employees to Legacy wages and benefits
Wage increases for all
Increased pension multiplier for Legacy employees
Enhanced benefits for all employees

Union members had previously opposed Kellogg's two-tier employment system. They were upset because that system did not offer temporary workers, making up 30% of its workforce, a pathway to becoming permanent staff.

According to the release, the employees are planning to hold a vote on that tentative agreement this Sunday, December 5. Results and more information from that vote are expected to come sometime early next week.

If that agreement happens on Sunday, it will mean that the strike lasted exactly two months, as the workers began the strike back on October 5 when their contracts expired. During the late evening on Monday, October 4, the union overwhelming voted in favor of approving a strike. Just after 1:00 a.m. Tuesday, October 5 the first employees hit the picket line outside the plant located at 425 Porter Street in Battle Creek, Michigan.

To make up for the lost productivity, Kellogg hired permanent replacements for some of the plant workers who were on strike. They also warned that the strike would its annual profit due to the disruption.