Demonstrators rally outside Kellogg Co. headquarters in support of striking workers

Three weeks into a strike at Kellogg Co., the Michigan American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) hosted a rally Wednesday in downtown Battle Creek in support of picketing workers.

The rally was held at Festival Market Square, across the street from Kellogg Co. world headquarters, drawing an estimated 200 people.

“Euphoric is actually the word that I've used because it's really amazing...the amount of people that we have coming out supporting us,” said Trevor Bidelman, president of BCTGM Local 3G. “Kellogg's unfortunately has done enough bad stuff to people in the city to where their big name doesn't really mean as much as they think it does. You really can't throw a rock in the city without hitting the house with somebody that's been negatively impacted.”

Some 1,400 workers at Kellogg Co.'s ready-to-eat cereal plants walked off the job Oct. 5 in Battle Creek; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Memphis, Tennessee; and Omaha, Nebraska. The walkout followed the expiration of a one-year extension to a five-year master contract. Workers are calling for better wages and benefits and for the company to retain its current two-tiered labor structure.

Kellogg Co. and the Bakery Confectionery Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) union, which represents the workers, agreed to resume talks Nov. 2 and 3 in Arlington, Virginia.

MORE: Kellogg Co., union to get 'back to the table' after third week of strike

Updates on the negotiations provided by the BCGTM can be found at bctgm2021rteccontract.com and through Kellogg Co. at kelloggsnegotiations.com.