Biden is “deeply concerned” by Reuters reports that Kellogg has replaced striking workers

By Mohammad Zargham and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden said he was “very concerned” that Kellogg (NYSE 🙂 Co was planning to hire permanent replacements for unionized workers’ strikes this week after voting on the proposed contract.

Biden, who has put the union at the center of its policy, said that such actions undermine the critical role that collective bargaining plays in giving workers a voice.

“The permanent replacement of the workers ‘strike is an existential attack on the union and its members’ jobs and livelihoods.

Kellogg said Tuesday that a majority of U.S. cereal plant workers voted against a new five-year contract, forcing workers to hire permanent replacements as the extended strike began more than two months ago.

This is the second time the president has expressed support for unions and the organized labor movement. In February, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ 🙂 advocated for workers’ rights to vote for whether to unionize Alabama workers. Last month, a regional director of the U.S. National Labor Relations Council ordered a re-run of the election, ending with the failure of the union’s effort.

Biden and Democrats have tried to stop the hiring practice through the Protecting the Right to Organize Act or the PRO Act, which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in March but has a long probability in the Senate.

The percentage of U.S. workers represented by a union fell by nearly 15 points between 1979 and 2020, according to the White House. That drop, the White House says, has cost workers $ 200 billion in unpaid wages and bonuses a year.