STAND WITH NABISCO WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES AND ACROSS THE GLOBE

WHEREAS, in July 2015, Mondelēz International, the new owner of Nabisco-brand products, announced that it would send 600 workers’ jobs from Chicago to its new plant in Salinas, Mexico, after workers refused to accept unreasonable company demands of $46 million in cuts to wages and benefits annually, amounting to 60 percent of their current wages and benefits; and

WHEREAS, Mondelēz/Nabisco is evading the provision of family-sustaining wages, workers’ rights and other legal requirements in the United States by sending production to Mexico, which has a federal minimum wage of $4 a day; and

WHEREAS, this one-way business model exploits workers on both sides of the border through unfair trade competition and governmental repression to benefit a global few at the expense of many; and

WHEREAS, plant closures devastate communities and families, as well as state and county tax bases; and

WHEREAS, in Chicago, in the 1990s, Nabisco took $90 million in subsidies from Illinois taxpayers, and 20 years later, it is abandoning the taxpayers’ investment; and

WHEREAS, Nabisco’s continued corporate policy of closing plants to take advantage of low-wage workers has been a windfall for its top executives and largest shareholders, including Irene Rosenfeld, the former CEO of Mondelēz, which owns Nabisco, who raked in approximately $185 million in compensation over eight years while billions of dollars went to the largest investors in dividends and stock buybacks; and

WHEREAS, the continual loss of jobs to low-wage countries with non-free-union workplaces limits current and future generations of Americans from attaining good, family-sustaining jobs in all work segments and, in particular, limits the earning power of new graduates entering the job market who are already saddled with enormous financial liabilities even before they get their first jobs; and

WHEREAS, the continuation of corporate-driven trade deals, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, and irresponsible corporate business models eliminate work opportunities resulting in more Americans who cannot compete with low-wage workers across borders:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers supports the efforts to maintain family-sustaining employment and stand up against the global worker exploitation used in non-free-union workplaces, and will  send an open letter to CEO Dirk Van de Put outlining its displeasure with this economically and socially destructive business plan.