Dive Brief:
- The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Mondelez International, accusing the company of discrimination in the company's decision to cut hundreds of jobs at its Chicago bakery.
- The decision was allegedly "driven by the desire to eliminate its largest workforce population made up of people of color and those over age 40," according to the union's complaint.
- The complaint follows a lawsuit the union filed against Mondelez last week, which also cited discrimination in addition to the voiding of a collective bargaining agreement.
Dive Insight:
The saga continues: Rumbles about these job cuts surfaced last May, though at that point, it wasn't clear whether the Chicago bakery or the plant in Salinas, Mexico would receive upgraded production lines, which would affect how many hundreds of jobs the Chicago bakery stood to lose. In July, the company finalized its decision to lay off 600 workers from the Chicago site and install four state-of-the-art production lines in Salinas.
Earlier this month, Mondelez announced the first round of 277 job cuts in Chicago, expected to begin March 21, and more are likely to come later this year. Unions representing the Chicago employees vowed to fight for these jobs, and it wasn't long before the union filed a lawsuit and EEOC complaint in response.
How will Mondelez proceed? Cost is paramount, as expanding production capacity in Mexico rather than Chicago would save the company more than $46 million in annualized operating costs and capital expense, officials told Chicago Tribune in May. And Mondelez wouldn't be the first company to look outside of the U.S. for expansion opportunities and cost-savings. The lawsuit, however, could turn into a drawn-out affair and/or costly union settlement.
Mondelez did not provide a comment on the complaint or the lawsuit to Chicago Tribune.