Battle Creek, Mich.—Kellogg’s plans to cut more than 200 jobs at its Battle Creek factory will be
“obviously devastating,” the head of the union representing workers there said Sept. 1. The company announced Aug. 31 that it was considering eliminating 223 jobs beginning in January, and 187 of those will be union workers, Trevor Bidelman, business agent/president of Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union Local 3-G said in a message to members. Over the next 60 days, he added, “the union’s sole intention will be to work with the Kellogg company and the community leaders to avoid this decision becoming the company’s course of action,” and it hopes “that with cooperation and engagement, the ultimate decision will be to not follow through with this contemplated change that will have a drastic negative impact on the lives of many people in order to increase the earnings of a select few.” Kellogg’s, the largest employer in this city of 50,000 people, said it needed to close at least two production lines in order to concentrate on making more bran cereals and Rice Krispies. Read more
