NLRB News: NLRB issues complaint against Kellogg Company

The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) Region 15 Office issued a complaint against Kellogg Company alleging that the cereal manufacturer violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) during bargaining with Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers, Local 252-G over a Supplemental Local Agreement at their food processing and packaging facility in Memphis, Tennessee.

The NLRB complaint alleges that Kellogg Company violated the NLRA by insisting to impasse on bargaining proposals that would constitute midterm modifications to the wage and benefit provisions of the Master Agreement between Kellogg and the Union, by locking out approximately 225 Memphis unit employees in furtherance of its bad-faith bargaining position, and by failing to provide requested information that would assist the Union in its representational capacity and in assessing Kellogg’s bargaining proposals.

Under the NLRA, an employer has an obligation to bargain in good faith with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. The law requires that, when a collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) is in effect and an employer seeks to modify the terms and conditions contained in the CBA, the employer must obtain the union’s consent before implementing such changes.

A hearing before an NLRB Administrative Law Judge is scheduled for May 5, 2014, at 9 a.m. at the NLRB Regional Office in Memphis, TN.

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