Over 1,300 workers at the Hershey plant in Stuart’s Draft, Virginia, are voting on whether to join the pro-company BCTGM union, with balloting set to be completed March 24.
Kellogg’s workers report filthy conditions and missing tools inside the plant, as well as continuing censorship by union-affiliated social media pages.
The vote at Jon Donaire came just days before Kellogg’s workers were forced to vote yet again on a reworded contract that was in all respects the same as the one that was rejected three weeks ago.
The BCTGM is copying the UAW’s method used to break the John Deere strike of dividing workers up by plant, seeking to isolate the more militant plants from the less militant.
Under the circumstances, there is no reason to assume the contract in fact was voted in by the membership at all. Given the entirely undemocratic character of the union’s “ratification” process, workers have raised doubts that their ballots were properly counted at all.