"Kellogg's workers will vote on another tentative deal, but the strike may still go on," 17 Dec. 2021

Even as the Kellogg Co. and the union representing its cereal plant workers jointly announced a tentative agreement to put an end to the months-long strike at the company's four U.S.-based cereal plants, workers at a rally in Michigan criticized the deal in a hint that the strike could continue even longer.

... The most contentious issue has been a "two-tier" wage and benefits system, in which employees who started in 2015 or later are paid according to a different, lower wage scale than "legacy" employees.

... "For all the reasons that we went out on strike, none of it was addressed. We went out to fix this equality problem. And [the previous] tentative agreement did not speak to that at all," said Todd Manusos, a material transfer operator at the Battle Creek plant, in an interview with NPR.

... In a news release ... Kellogg's said it was "pleased" to announce the new deal. The company highlighted the deal's increased pay for all workers and an "accelerated, defined path" for the lower-tier employees to move into the higher tier.

"We value all of our employees. They have enabled Kellogg to provide food to Americans for more than 115 years," said Kellogg Chairman and CEO Steve Cahillane. "We are hopeful our employees will vote to ratify this contract and return to work."