Jan. 22--Mondelez International's plan to lay off 600 workers at the old Nabisco plant on Chicago's Southwest Side is discriminatory and violates a collective bargaining agreement, according to a lawsuit and related grievances filed by the plant's largest union in federal court this week.
The lawsuit is the latest attempt by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers to stanch the loss of jobs at the longtime bakery. In July, Mondelez announced it would cut 600 of the 1,200 jobs as it moves some of its operations to a facility in Salinas, Mexico. Earlier this week, Mondelez gave the 60-day notice required by state law to 277 of those workers.
With its lawsuit, the bakers' union is hoping to force binding arbitration of its grievances before any jobs are cut. The union has said it would fight the layoffs in advance of upcoming contract negotiations, even as the plant's other two unions already have negotiated a shutdown package with Mondelez.
"You don't go into a fight already defeated in your mind," Ed Burpo, president of BCTGM Local 300, said in an interview this week.
Mondelez spokeswoman Laurie Guzzinati declined to comment.
In a grievance filed with the company Dec. 11, the bakers' union alleged that moving the production to Mexico violates a nondiscrimination clause in the collective bargaining agreement because the vast majority of members at the plant are minorities and over 40 years old. The grievance also claims the move violates other clauses in the agreement.
About 86 percent of the bakers' union 950 or so members at the Chicago bakery are over 40, said Ron Baker, spokesman for BCTGM, and about 68 percent of them are nonwhite.
On Dec. 21, the union filed another grievance alleging that Mondelez has been filling jobs within the bargaining unit at the bakery with contracted nonunion workers.
"The (union) has maintained that these actions by (Mondelez) are part of the plan to move production from Chicago to Mexico while weakening the union's bargaining unit and bargaining power prior to the move," according to the lawsuit.
The layoffs are to happen in reverse seniority order, according to a letter sent to employees earlier this week. Of those 277 who received notices, 134 were floor helpers and 80 were utility workers.
Mondelez projects it will save about $46 million a year by installing four production lines at the Mexico plant rather than making that investment at the Chicago plant at 7300 S. Kedzie Ave.
The Chicago plant will continue to make BelVita, Mini Chips Ahoy and Cheese Nips, among other products, on seven production lines that will be upgraded. Nine lines will be closed. Oreos, Ritz and Graham crackers will move to the new lines in Mexico.
The move came into the political spotlight in August when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump declared he would never eat Oreos again because Mondelez was moving the operation to Mexico. But Mondelez executives have said the popular cookie will continue to be made at other American facilities -- just not in Chicago.
gtrotter@tribpub.com
