Jan. 28--Mondelez International's decision to lay off 600 workers at its Chicago bakery was "driven by the desire to eliminate its largest workforce population made up of people of color and those over age 40," according to a union complaint filed Thursday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
This accusation of discrimination -- filed by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers -- is the latest counterpunch from the largest union at the Southwest Side plant, where Oreo cookies and other snacks have been made for decades. The union has vowed to fight the looming job cuts in advance of negotiations for a new contract and filed a lawsuit last week in federal court against the company. The labor contract expires Feb. 29.
"No other group of employees in the (Mondelez) production system has received this treatment or had demands placed on them to cover capital expenditures to save their jobs," Jethro Head, international vice president of the BCTGM, said in a statement. "Not coincidentally -- no other group of employees has the numbers of employees of color and over age 40 as the South Kedzie Plant location."
Mondelez spokeswoman Laurie Guzzinati said in an email that the company had not "been served with a charge and, as such, we're not in a position to comment on the substance or merit."
Mondelez, a global snack food manufacturer with facilities in China, Bahrain and India among other countries, would save about $46 million per year by upgrading a facility in Mexico rather than the Chicago bakery, executives have said. Some production lines and about 600 jobs would remain in Chicago.
In May, Mondelez met with its unions to entertain proposals for how to close that $46 million gap in Chicago, which the bakers' union contends was unfair and unreasonable. In its news release Thursday, the union alleges that Mondelez's decision singled out the Chicago workforce because it's largely non-white and over 40.
Similar upgrades at plants in New Jersey and Virginia didn't call for "concessions," the union said.
In the lawsuit filed last week, the bakers' union alleged that moving the production to Mexico violated various clauses in the collective bargaining agreement. Since the layoffs were announced, Mondelez has been filling jobs within the bargaining unit at the bakery with contracted nonunion workers in a deliberate attempt to weaken the union, the lawsuit said. Mondelez has not commented on the suit.
Last week, 277 workers at the Chicago bakery received the 60-day layoff notice required by state law. The remaining cuts are expected later in the year.
gtrotter@tribpub.com
