Biden 'deeply troubled' by Kellogg's plan to replace striking workers: 'An existential attack'

President Biden came down hard on Kellogg on Friday, having chimed in on an ongoining strike involving 1,400 employees at four company plants, The New York Times reports. The company said it had plans to permanently replace the striking workers, who "voted down a proposed contract this week," writes the Times.
"I am deeply troubled by reports of Kellogg's plans to permanently replace striking workers," Biden wrote in a statement, explaining that replacing striking workers is "an existential attack on the union and its members' jobs and livelihoods."
Furthermore, "such action undermines the critical role collective bargaining plays in providing workers a voice," the president said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The strike began on Oct. 5, and has focused mostly on Kellogg's "two-tier compensation system, in which employees hired after 2015 typically receive lower wages and less generous benefits than veteran workers," writes the Times. On Tuesday, the union representing the workers voted against a tentative deal the union and the company had reached last week; in response, Kellog said it would "hire permanent replacement employees in positions vacated by striking workers."
"I have long opposed permanent striker replacements and I strongly support legislation that would ban that practice," Biden said Friday. "I urge employers and unions to commit fully to the challenging task of working out their differences at the bargaining table in a manner that fairly advances both parties' interests."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-off
Speed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US