Members of three local unions hit the streets of downtown Minneapolis July 1, distributing fliers outside Target urging consumers to pass over Mott’s products until a strike at the company’s Williamson, N.Y., plant is over.
The strike began May 23, after more than 300 workers, members of the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union/UFCW, refused to accept a final contract offer from management that included steep wage and benefit concessions.
Mott’s parent company, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, demanded the concessions despite raking in $550 million in profits last year. The company also has told workers to think of themselves as a "commodity" like "soybeans or oil," prompting some observers to label Mott’s “the new poster child for corporate greed.”
Among the concessions the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group is seeking from its Williamson workers:
• Cutting wages by $1.50 across the board.
• Freezing pension benefits for current workers, and eliminating pension benefits for new workers.
• Increasing workers’ health insurance premiums and co-pays.
• Decreasing the company’s contribution to workers’ 401(k) retirement plans.
Meanwhile, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group CEO Larry Young’s total earnings doubled to $6.5 million from 2007 to 2008.
Locally, members of the Communications Workers and United Food and Commercial Workers locals from Minneapolis and St. Paul took up the striking workers’ call for solidarity actions nationwide.
![\"demonstration](\"https://www.workdayminnesota.org/upload/editor/Image/2010/July/0701UFCW_Motts.jpg\") |
| Attired as a rotten apple, Curtis James Neff participates in Thursday\'s demonstration in downtown Minneapolis. Photo by Jennifer Christensen |
UFCW Local 789 President Don Seaquist, whose St. Paul-based members helped pass out fliers July 1, said Mott’s is employing an increasingly common tactic in the corporate playbook: using high regional unemployment rates to justify cutting wages and benefits.
“This is a highly profitable company,” Seaquist said. “They don’t have to do this because this plant, this company is highly profitable. They’re using the economy as an excuse.
“I tell our members, we’re seeing two types of contract negotiations here and across the country. One where we’re freezing or cutting because the employer has to, and another where we’re freezing or cutting because the employer says the economy is bad. And there’s no excuse for that.”
Products made by Mott’s include applesauce, Hawaiian Punch, Margaritaville, Mr. and Mrs. T products, Welch’s Grape Juice, Rose’s Lime Juice, Snapple, Mott’s Fruitsations, Mott’s Garden Cocktail, ReaLemon and ReaLime, Holland House and Clamato.
For more information on the Mott’s strike, go to rwdsu.info
Michael Moore edits The Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation. Learn more at www.stpaulunions.org
Share
Members of three local unions hit the streets of downtown Minneapolis July 1, distributing fliers outside Target urging consumers to pass over Mott’s products until a strike at the company’s Williamson, N.Y., plant is over.
The strike began May 23, after more than 300 workers, members of the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union/UFCW, refused to accept a final contract offer from management that included steep wage and benefit concessions.
Mott’s parent company, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, demanded the concessions despite raking in $550 million in profits last year. The company also has told workers to think of themselves as a "commodity" like "soybeans or oil," prompting some observers to label Mott’s “the new poster child for corporate greed.”
Among the concessions the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group is seeking from its Williamson workers:
• Cutting wages by $1.50 across the board.
• Freezing pension benefits for current workers, and eliminating pension benefits for new workers.
• Increasing workers’ health insurance premiums and co-pays.
• Decreasing the company’s contribution to workers’ 401(k) retirement plans.
Meanwhile, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group CEO Larry Young’s total earnings doubled to $6.5 million from 2007 to 2008.
Locally, members of the Communications Workers and United Food and Commercial Workers locals from Minneapolis and St. Paul took up the striking workers’ call for solidarity actions nationwide.
|
| Attired as a rotten apple, Curtis James Neff participates in Thursday\’s demonstration in downtown Minneapolis.
Photo by Jennifer Christensen |
UFCW Local 789 President Don Seaquist, whose St. Paul-based members helped pass out fliers July 1, said Mott’s is employing an increasingly common tactic in the corporate playbook: using high regional unemployment rates to justify cutting wages and benefits.
“This is a highly profitable company,” Seaquist said. “They don’t have to do this because this plant, this company is highly profitable. They’re using the economy as an excuse.
“I tell our members, we’re seeing two types of contract negotiations here and across the country. One where we’re freezing or cutting because the employer has to, and another where we’re freezing or cutting because the employer says the economy is bad. And there’s no excuse for that.”
Products made by Mott’s include applesauce, Hawaiian Punch, Margaritaville, Mr. and Mrs. T products, Welch’s Grape Juice, Rose’s Lime Juice, Snapple, Mott’s Fruitsations, Mott’s Garden Cocktail, ReaLemon and ReaLime, Holland House and Clamato.
For more information on the Mott’s strike, go to rwdsu.info
Michael Moore edits The Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation. Learn more at www.stpaulunions.org