Mott's Strikers Take A Stand For American Blue-Collar Workers
Tuesday, July 6, 2010(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
by Chris Garlock
They'd rather be making applesauce. Instead, the workers at
Mott's have been on strike in upstate New York since May 23, in what they say is
the latest battle against unchecked corporate greed. On Friday, while visiting
my parents in nearby Rochester for the holiday weekend, I stopped by the
picketline in Williamson to host the workers on Gloria Minott's Friday morning
show on WPFW and to deliver letters of support from the Metro Washington Council
and UFCW Local 400, a sister local to UFCW Local 220, which represents the 300
striking workers. "We've never had a strike in the 54 years the plant has been
here, but enough is enough," line worker Fred Acevedo -- who's been working
there 22 years -- told me, as cars and trucks whizzed past on the highway
outside the Motts plant. The picketline stretches around the huge plant,
delineated by a line of American flags planted in the ground, isolated knots of
picketers and anchored by two huge inflatable rats that draw toots of support
from the passing motorists. Mott's changed ownership two years ago, when
previous owner Cadbury-Schweppes sold it to the Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS)
and the new owners made no secret of their intention to drive down wages and
benefits, local 220 President Mike Leberth -- a lead production technician in
the plant -- told me. "They said we were paid too much and that we were monkeys
whose jobs could be done by anyone." The Mott's workers are fiercely proud of
their plant, easily reeling off the mind-bloggling production stats that have
put Mott's ubiquitous applesauce and juices on grocery shelves across the
country. The 300 workers at the Williamson plant cook and package millions of
pounds of apples into hundreds of thousands of single-serve containers and jars
of applesauce, working around the clock 365 days a year, with each worker able
to do several different jobs to keep the line moving. But in the months leading
up to contract negotiations, the company steadily eliminated the little extras
that workers say had made Mott's a close-knit family: the summer family picnic
and the annual Christmas party, as well as more serious things like company-provided uniforms and
safety shoes. "Not even a Dr. Pepper hat," said Acevedo indignantly. "If they
were hurting economically, we'd understand," he added, "but they made half a
billion profit last year." DPS insisted that a 10% wage increase was out of the
question and instead slashed wages, benefits and job protections, "while giving
the company CEO a 113% pay hike," Local 220 Recording Secretary Bruce Beal -- a
label machine operator -- told me, squinting into the sun as the American flags
fluttered in the breeze on the picketline behind him. "None of us want to be out
here," he said, gesturing toward the picketers lining the highway, "but we won't
let them strip away our rights without a fight. We're making a stand here for
blue-collar workers in America against the corporate blueprint they'd like to
impose on the rest of American workers." In the DC area, UFCW Local 400
members continue to distribute flyers urging a boycott of Motts, Dr Pepper and
Snapple; click
here for details. - photos by Garlock (top right) and
Ann Vollertsen, UFCW 220 member and Mott's filler-operator mechanic (photo at
left)