Ending (16 wk) Strike, Mott’s Plant Union Accepts Deal (restored wage levels and pension plan)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NY Times

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Dr Pepper Snapple and the union representing 300 workers at the Mott’s apple juice plant in Williamson, N.Y., announced a settlement late Monday that ends a 16-week strike and includes a wage freeze, but not the pay cuts the company had demanded.

In the three-year deal, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union persuaded the company to drop its demand to freeze pensions for current workers, although newly hired workers will not have pensions, but 401(k) plans.

The workers at the plant, 25 miles east of Rochester, walked out on May 23, insisting that Mott’s parent company, Dr Pepper Snapple, was unfair to demand a $1.50-an-hour pay cut when it had reported record profits of $555 million last year.

The company asserted that its wage demands were a justifiable strategy to increase competitiveness, saying the plant’s workers averaged $21 an hour while other food industry workers in the area averaged $14.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/business/14mott.html?src=busln

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The first news I saw when I got up this morning. :-)

[LawnKorn]

1. The CEO Larry Young was payed 2,770,000 dollars last year

That is 650 times more than the average line worker. Who needs a pay cut over at Dr. Pepper?

[corpseratemedia]

2. I hope the bad publicity esp. from their disgusting VP helped in part

Congratulations to the union workers there.

[eilen]

3. Valiant but still sold out their young.

Next year they will end up closing and moving the plant as there is nothing stopping them. They'll build a sweatshop factory in Kentucky, Tennessee or Georgia --somewhere South where the workers are more cowed and accept regressive sales taxes on food.

There is no solidarity in this country. I'm so sick of the "I've got mine" mentality. Everyone has an agenda that does not include their neighbor.

Sorry, just feeling down.

[florida08]

4. I feel the same way

When half of the country attacks the other half out of misinformation there's a problem. The attack on democracy has been fierce. As long as it's not in my back yard people seem content. Pretty stupid. But hey..I here tomorrow will be sunny :)