![]() He called Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek, who marched alongside strikers to the nearby Fred Meyer to chant outside. Perhaps most notably, he recruited nearly every prominent Portland Democratic officeholder to the picket line. And he directed strikers to take their picket line to grocery stores, demonstrating against the offshoring of products they baked, like Ritz crackers and Oreo cookies. He helped build a crowdfunding campaign that supplied $200 a week to each Portland bakers’ union member. If not, there’s just some people standing out there with signs.” “Things started getting a little out of control, and we had a plan to meet with Mondelez already,” Mayagoitia says, but adds, “I’m glad some of the things that were happening got people’s attention. Especially here in Portland, I believe it was a huge boost to getting the company to come to the table,” says Burlingham.Įddie Mayagoitia, a union member, calls the protesters’ actions “a little extra.” Union members think those outside protesters made Mondelez pay attention: “They’ll get in your face and tell you how to feel. Partridge knew he could bring in outside protesters and advocacy groups to attempt tactics the bakers’ union could get in legal trouble for: “We can wink, nod with union leadership, and go off and do our thing.” Two weeks into the strike, outside protesters set off their car horns and alarms outside of a hotel at midnight where strikebreakers were lodged. They also routinely blocked vans from entering and leaving a parking lot Mondelez had leased miles away, often clashing with security guards hired by the strike staffing company Huffmaster Crisis Response. Outside supporters of the strike soon intensified tactics by blocking vans carrying strikebreaking workers to and from the bakery. Eventually, Portland police kicked strikers off of the Mondelez-owned land. Two weeks into the strike, bakers’ union members set up by railroad tracks near the factory to stop incoming supply trains carrying oil, flour and sugar from reaching the bakery. Portland’s strike wasn’t just the kindling for a nationwide picket-it was far more intense than similar strikes at four other Nabisco facilities. “Symbolically, it took on a lot of meaning for us and everyone in the working class.”Ī young strike supporter outside Nabisco. He’s going to keep pushing you around until you hit him back,” Burlingham says. Reconciliation may prove difficult, after the bakers found themselves caught between provocative tactics by outside activists and a physical crackdown by a strikebreaking crew their bosses hired.īurlingham feels it’s a bittersweet end. “But we’re going to hold them at arm’s length.” “I’m going to go in there and do the same job as I’ve always done,” says Local 364 vice president Mike Burlingham. This week, Portland bakers return to the company they’ve been fighting for over a month. Those Portlanders were the holdout amid a sea of nearly 1,000 bakers’ union members at striking facilities across the country, most of whom cheered the contract. They’re still unhappy with its creation of weekend crews that will take overtime opportunities away from weekday workers. Most Portland union members who struck outside the bakery-just around 200 total-voted against the contract on Sept. The monthlong strike came to an end on Saturday-against the will of most Portland workers-when fellow bakers’ union members across the country voted overwhelmingly in favor of adopting the proposed contract that union representatives and Mondelez had drafted during bargaining. ![]() But it was their union brothers and sisters in other cities who pulled the plug on the standoff.
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