MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Seven members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 1 from Chicago drove here Nov. 3 to reinforce fellow BCTGM Local 390G members on strike against International Flavors and Fragrances. Almost 200 union members walked out June 4 after working for a year under an expired contract.
Those making the trip included this Militant worker-correspondent, workers from several plants in the Chicago area and Hector Rosa, union business agent for Mondelez International.
Markeye Pegues, Local 390G financial secretary, told the Militant that the company has refused to meet with the union to negotiate a new contract. Pegues has 23 years seniority and is a Phase 3 spray dry operator.
Phase 3 is one of the highly profitable lines in the plant, producing protein powder that goes into baby food sold by Abbott Industries.
IFF also makes other soy protein products that are used by Nestle, Nestle Purina, Kind Bars and other companies to manufacture pet foods, soy-based nutritional powders and other goods.
Pegues said there are three things the union is fighting for. “One, we want to preserve time and a half for more than eight hours work. Two, we want to preserve our paid lunch time. Three, we want to keep our benefits.
“The company wants to change all that. They want to be able to unilaterally change our benefits, like medical insurance and their contribution to our 401(k), with just 30 days notice. We just want to preserve what we have. We held a rally in October in New York City in front of IFF’s headquarters and tried to meet with company officials, to no avail,” he said.
Because of the length of the strike, many workers have gotten other jobs to pay their bills. They picket before or after work, Pegues said.
Cometris Morgan, vice president of BCTGM Local 390G, joined us on the picket line. He gave an update on the strike.
“IFF is out to break the union. They hope to starve us out,” he said. “This strike is bigger than just us. The outcome will affect all unions. They want takebacks to help line their pockets, while they’re making big profits.”
IFF bosses reported they raked in $11.7 billion in profits in 2021.
“We don’t have Martin Luther King Day as a holiday, nor Juneteenth,” Morgan said. “Management here takes MLK as a holiday. Where is the respect for us?”
Memphis was an important battlefield in the fight to overthrow Jim Crow segregation and advance the rights of Black workers. It was here where King was killed as he brought solidarity to overwhelmingly Black sanitation workers on strike in 1968. The IFF strikers have won support from the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and other civil rights groups.
Pickets carry signs saying, “I am a man,” the slogan of the 1968 sanitation workers strike.
Gubrina Green, a member of the delegation who has worked at the big Tootsie Roll Industries plant in southwest Chicago for 31 years, explained why she made the trip. “I came here with a purpose — to walk the picket line after driving 10 hours,” she said. “I will help anyone who helps themselves.”
IFF strikers need support! Walk the picket line at 4272 S. Mendenhall Road. Organize your co-workers and union to send contributions. Go to www.gofundme.com/f/bctgm-local-390g-iff-memphis-workers-on-strike.