MEMORANDUM
TO: AFL-CIO Executive Council Members
National and International Union Presidents
Trade and Industrial Departments
General Board Representatives
AFL-CIO State Federations and Central Labor Councils
FROM: Elizabeth H. Shuler
DATE: May 3, 2016
RE: AFL-CIO endorsement of BCTGM’s boycott of “Made in Mexico” Mondelez International snack foods
The AFL-CIO has endorsed the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM) boycott of the snack food items of Mondelez International (“Mondelez,” “Mondelez/Nabisco”) that are made in Mexico.
The boycott is being conducted because Mondelez is shifting work from U.S. production facilities, most recently in Chicago, IL, to a facility in Salinas Victoria, Mexico.
Shortly after the Salinas Victoria facility went online in 2015, Mondelez approached BCTGM Local 300 (Chicago) seeking $46 million in annual concessions to secure an investment of $130 million into the Chicago plant. The concessions would have meant an approximately 60% reduction in pay and benefits for the 1,000 workers in Chicago, decimating fifty years of collective bargaining gains. The members refused.
In July 2015, Mondelez announced it would be investing the $130 million in the Salinas Victoria plant to construct several more lines. It also announced that it would eliminate 600 jobs at its plant in Chicago as it transferred production to Salinas Victoria.
That same year, the CEO of Mondelez received over $19 million in total compensation.
The BCTGM’s “check the label” campaign is designed to educate the public about Mondelez transfer of jobs to Mexico and to urge consumers to not buy Mondelez/Nabisco snack food products that are made in Mexico, http://www.fightforamericanjobs.org/check-the-label/.
It is very important to emphasize that the BCTGM is only asking the public to avoid Mondelez/Nabisco brand products that are “Made in Mexico.” This includes Oreos, Newtons, Chips Ahoy, Honey Grahams, Animal Crackers, Ritz Crackers, Premium, Belvita, Lorna Doone, Teddy Grahams, Honey Maid, and Wheat Thins.
Nabisco snacks are still produced at Nabisco bakeries in the United States. Check the label to be sure the Nabisco products you buy are NOT being produced in Mexico.
The latest boycott information can always be found on AFL-CIO’s website http://www.aflcio.org/Get-Involved/AFL-CIO-Endorsed-Boycotts and the Union Label and Service Trades website, www.unionlabel.org.
cc: AFL-CIO headquarters and field staff
If “Mondelez International Group” is printed on a package, does NOT have “Made in Mexico,” printed on it, yet has “Distributed by Mondelez Global, LLC,” with a USA location listed, is this one of the products to avoid? I feel its just a way to get around the “Made in Mexico” boycott. Thank you.
I’m sure you are correct and I thank you for pointing that out. The U.S. location is very likely a receiving warehouse that can, by some loophole, be cited as a distribution source to avoid any mention of where the product is actually made and profits collected.
Ultimately, the profits are laundered in Mexico and sent back to Nabisco.
If it has a USA location listed it would have been produced at that U.S. factory. If it says “Made in Mexico” those are the products the AFL-CIO has endorsed to boycott.
There is a Mondelez International in Ontario California. They are purely a distribution center. The product comes into the center and then is sent out to the separate stores. It is possible that the product was Made in Mexico and shipped out by the distribution center.