BUFFALO, N.Y. — Some 30 members and supporters of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 36G were on the picket line at the J.M. Smucker Company’s Milk-Bone factory here Nov. 10 when Militant worker-correspondents arrived to bring solidarity. The 165 production workers in the plant walked off the job Oct. 28. Health care costs are the central issue.
The strikers are definitely set up for business. They have a generator running and TVs to watch. And there is Wi-Fi and lots of food.
“With the raise offered, I think we probably would have taken it,” Cathy Kennedy, a worker at the plant for 21 years, told the Militant. “But only if they didn’t touch the insurance. With the increased costs for medical, we would have lost the raises.” Strikers explained that the company’s proposed plan means higher monthly payments, higher deductibles, higher payments for care, and a much higher out-of-pocket yearly maximum.
The strike has won broad solidarity. Members of Teamsters Local 449, a large local of UPS workers and other truck drivers and warehouse workers, showed up on the picket line. They set up a tent and served chili and hotdogs. Members of the United Auto Workers, the Machinists union and the Buffalo Teachers Federation have visited the picket line, bringing refreshments and solidarity. “Buffalo is a union town,” said Chuck Reeves, BCTGM international representative.
Strikers told the Militant that the bosses are going to court to get an injunction against the pickets. “The company claims we’re harassing people in the neighborhood,” one striker said, laughing. “We have great relations with them. One resident offered to provide electricity from his home for our needs. When we barbecue, we invite the kids. We had a Halloween candy giveaway. Is that what they call harassment?”
While medical care expenses are what provoked the strike, workers told the Militant there were many other problems, especially with working conditions.
“The company is always preaching ‘safety, safety, safety,’” Kennedy said. But her husband, who worked in the plant for 17 years, was seriously injured on the job twice. And then the company fired him for being off too long. Kennedy said BCTGM Local 36G is looking for ways to fight his firing. “All he wants to do is get back to work,” she said.
Work schedules are a big problem. “The phone rings almost every day for overtime,” striker Tony Serra said. “They can make you work 16-hour shifts. There’s mandatory overtime and we work every other weekend.” Serra, with 21 years in the plant, is the picket captain on his shift. “Milk-Bone has gone through many owners since I’ve worked here. Smucker has owned it for nine years now and this is the worst management I’ve ever worked under.”
Until recently, Reeves was a mechanic at the large General Mills plant in town, one of the six Buffalo-area facilities organized by the local. “Smucker claimed to the press that ‘communications are open’ with the union,” he told the Militant. “In reality, they haven’t communicated at all, except by sending threatening letters to union members.”
The company listed profits of $1.3 billion last year. Besides the very profitable pet food lines, the company owns Folgers, the Hostess snack line, and other products.
“Very few Smucker plants in the country are union,” Reeves said.
The picket lines are up 24/7. Go show your support at 243 Urban Street in Buffalo.