Dive Brief:
- Kellogg Co. said it will appeal the National Labor Relations Board's finding concerning a 2013 Memphis, MI, employee lockout. The board said the lockout was illegal, nine months after an administrative law judge said the lockout was legal.
- The incident in question happened October 2013 to August 2014, when Kellogg locked out more than 200 employees due to "a breakdown in labor negotiations over so-called casual employees and a dispute over whether the proposal for lower-paid workers was allowed to be negotiated outside of its master contract," Battle Creek Enquirer reported.
- Per the NLRB's ruling, the locked-out employees will now receive all earnings and benefits lost due to the lockout, which Kellogg is now ordered to pay.
Dive Insight:
The company last week reported a 44% plunge in earnings for the first quarter. Kellogg also recently announced it would be closing its frozen foods plant in Clearfield, UT, as part of its Project K cost-cutting and efficiency-promoting initiative.
Cuts have also included shuttering a Georgia snack factory, North Carolina snack plant, and Ontario cereal plant. Outside of the U.S., however, Kellogg is expanding its cereal plant in Belleville, Ontario, and also achieved a majority stake in Egyptian packaged biscuits company Bisco Misr.