Strike at NE Portland Nabisco Bakery May End After Preliminary Agreement Is Reached

HENRICO, Va. A preliminary contract agreement between snack company Mondelez and striking union workers could end a strike that began last month.

The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union and Mondelez issued separate statements on Wednesday announcing a tentative deal, but neither would discuss the terms, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

The preliminary agreement has been fully endorsed by both sides, said Mondelez spokesman Laurie M. Guzzinati.

Local officials on the committee will present the preliminary agreement to the workers in the coming days and they will then vote on the agreement, Anthony Shelton, the international chairman of the unions, said in a statement. It is not known when voting will take place.

Mondelez, one of the world’s largest snack companies, and the union have been negotiating a new four-year contract since the old one expired at the end of May. The contract covers union workers at six sites in Mondelez.

More than 1,000 workers an hour at a factory in Virginia, bakeries in Portland and Chicago and three distribution centers across the country have been on strike since last month. The workers strive for more wages, better working conditions and better working conditions.

Liz Shuler, the new president of the AFL-CIO union federation, met about two dozen workers at the Henrico, Virginia plant last week.

They take tremendous courage to walk out and walk these picket lines because they know that if they don’t take a stand, wages and conditions will continue to erode and that affects everyone in this country, Shuler said. We’ve had enough of the way you’ve been treated.

About 400 workers at the factory that make foods such as Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers and Chips Ahoy! cookies started hitting on August 16. The factory was owned by Nabisco and later by Kraft Foods Inc. It is now part of Mondelez, which was founded when Kraft Foods split into two companies in 2012.

–The Associated Press