Virginia Nabisco Workers Strike As NJ Official Offers Support

RICHMOND, VA — Employees at a Virginia Nabisco bakery are striking, seeking an end to the "outsourcing of jobs to Mexico," and demands for contract concessions from Mondelez.

The strike was announced through Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union President Anthony Shelton, on behalf of Local 358.

"Earlier today, members of Local 358 at the Nabisco Bakery in Richmond joined their Brothers and Sisters in Portland, Ore. and Aurora, Col. in striking Nabisco," said Shelton.

"In all three locations, our courageous members are speaking with one clear, strong voice. They are telling Nabisco to put an end to the outsourcing of jobs to Mexico and get off the ridiculous demand for contract concessions at a time when the company is making record profits."

The strike is of note locally, as it comes a month after east coast baking operations were consolidated to the Richmond location, resulting in the closure of a Fair Lawn bakery, which eliminated some 600 jobs from Bergen County.

In April, Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr., NJ-9, penned a letter to Mondelez CEO Dirk Van de Put, seeking "further details concerning Mondelez's policy of paying workers in Mexico low wages and how it may relate to the elimination of United States jobs."

The New Jersey congressman said this week that he is standing in solidarity with striking workers across the country.

According to the union, workers are striking in Oregon and Colorado in addition to Virginia.

"BCTGM members across this Union and across the country are coming together in solidarity with our striking Brothers and Sisters to take a stand against Nabisco’s shameful and destructive disregard for workers, their families and the communities in which they live," said Shelton.

When asked in November if the company would be outsourcing jobs eliminated from Fair Lawn to Mexico, a company official said no, but it did little to quell the suspicion.

Mondelez officials said the site in Fair Lawn, and another in Atlanta, were no longer considered "strategic assets from a geographic footprint perspective." More than that, the facilities were outdated, officials said.

Following the closure of those facilities, the site in Richmond became the East Coast hub of operations for the brand, and took over the Oreo production which had been done in Fair Lawn for years.

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