Others have been gathering early mornings at a parking lot at 7600 NE Killingsworth to board buses chartered from the Blue Star bus company. Some scabs are being lodged at Marriott Courtyard Portland North. Some supporters have even formed a crew of about two dozen to take action beyond support rallies-including surveilling and interfering with the company’s hired strikebreakers. Strikers are maintaining a picket by the railroad tracks, turning away shipments of flour and sugar. 28 rally, over 100 supporters peeled away from union picketers and marched to a nearby Fred Meyer grocery store, which they briefly occupied, chanting “Support the strike! Boycott Nabisco!” to cheers and fist pumps from some shoppers. The rallies have drawn hundreds of union members and community supporters, including elected leaders like Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek and Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal.Īt the Aug. Meanwhile, Portland DSA and Portland Jobs with Justice have organized spirited strike support rallies every Saturday morning since the week the strike began. And railroad workers have so far declined to make deliveries of raw ingredients. Teamster truck drivers are refusing to make deliveries or pick up product. They honored the picket line and stayed off the job since day one, along with a handful of stationary engineers in Operating Engineers Local 701. The strikers’ struggle has energized the local labor movement and won considerable national attention.įirst to support them were fellow Nabisco workers, 33 maintenance mechanics in Machinists Local 63 and nine electricians in IBEW Local 48. On the 24-7 picket line, spirits seem to be holding up so far, and have been buoyed by an extraordinary and unrelenting outpouring of solidarity. The roughly 200 members of BCTGM Local 364 in Portland are now in their fourth week of the strike, and only two are said to have crossed the picket line. ![]() 31, the company cut off health insurance benefits for strikers and their families. So far they’re showing up in relatively small numbers, and strikers think the plant is not producing much, yet. 17, Day 8 of the strike, scabs supplied by the strikebreaking specialist Huffmaster started arriving by bus at the Portland plant. If-as the bumper sticker says-the labor movement is the folks who brought you the weekend, then Mondelez-Nabisco is staking out a position as the folks who want to take the weekend away.Īnd the fight is getting dirty. And after more than a year of extreme overtime and nonstop weekend work, Nabisco proposes to eliminate the hard-won pay premiums that compensate workers when they make those sacrifices. Two demands in particular are galling: Nabisco wants to divide union members by making new hires pay more for health insurance. The strike is to oppose company demands for major economic concessions at a time when Mondelez-Nabisco is in record profit territory. All told about 1,000 BCTGM members are on strike. ![]() 19, as well as distribution centers near Denver and Atlanta. Joining Portland, other members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco, and Grain Millers (BCTGM) shut down Nabisco bakeries in Richmond, Virginia, on Aug. 10 at the Portland Nabisco bakery is turning into a closely watched nationwide struggle against corporate greed. 4, “boycott brigades” will leaflet at nearby supermarkets calling for customers to boycott Nabisco as long as workers remain on strike. ![]() ![]() Portland DSA and Portland Jobs with Justice have organized the late morning rallies every Saturday since the strike began Aug. Outside the Portland Nabisco plant at 100 NE Columbia Blvd, strikers speak out at weekly support rallies, like Shri Mudaliar, left, Aug.
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