Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dan Osborne.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
We've had him on the show because he's a candidate
for US Senate, but he also as we talked Dan
the first time that we met was your background. You
have been in leadership through unions and that includes in
this plant. Before can you kind of explain what your
background is with this group previously?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Yes, I spent three years as a president of BCTGM
fifty G and I helped lead to strike here in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Okay, so that is something we probably need to start with.
But before I do that, Kellogg's in itself with this
announcement or that we understand that they're going to plan
to close this plant in twenty twenty six. What was
your initial reaction.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
My initial reaction was discussed. You know, this is going
to be devastating to our local economy here and in
the state of Nebraska. There's generations of people that have
worked there. You know, it's been a staple in Omaha
for over sixty years. I know a guy there who's
fourth generation, uh, and so you know, these these are
(01:04):
these are hard working people that have dedicated a lot
of time and energy into making that plant successful.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
This plant specifically, as you mentioned, there was that strike
how long ago was that three years? Three years ago?
So do you think that had something to do with this.
I'm sure that the people out there might speculate that
are familiar with that, that this could there could be
a very friction led relationship between the company and also
(01:34):
this particular market.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, you know, there there's certainly uh you know, I
wouldn't I wouldn't rule it out, but without having any
defitentive information, I guess we'll probably never know that if
that was part of their decision making. But you know,
there's a good chance that it's not. Look because that uh,
that contract that we negotiated three years ago, uh, you know,
we really didn't get a whole lot. Uh And and
(01:57):
and the at the umbrella is there's also three other
manufacturing plants included in that, once in Pennsylvania, won in
Battle Creek, Michigan, and one in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. So, you know,
just to shut down Omaha doesn't seem like an attack
on the union. And I just want to touch about
that strike too. You know, that was during COVID, at
a time when Kellogg's made record profits. They went from
(02:18):
nineteen billion to twenty one billion dollars. The CEO gave
himself two million dollar raised, the board enriched themselves, stockholders
enriched themselves. And you know, at the same swipe of
the pen they tried to take from their workers, they
tried to go after our health insurance, cost of living
adjustments and create a permanent two tier wage system. So
that's that's why we had to do what we did.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
We're speaking with Dan Osborne, he is the former president
of the union who we hear the union jobs part
of this, that there's going to be a few hundred
union jobs at least that are going to be lost
here when this Kellogg's plant closes in a couple of years.
But you're kind of explaining to me that there's a
lot more to it than just these union jobs, correct.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I mean, you think about how big this corporation is.
You know, there's hr jobs, management jobs. You know, you're
talking well over one hundred, as well as the five
hundred factory floor workers, mechanics, electricians, and then also you'll
you'll have a you'll have a local impact on truck drivers,
rail you know, the buildings and trades have a ton
(03:21):
of people in there working. They they have they actually
have a trailers set up, so they're there full time
as well as people who sell the manufacturing supplies, you know,
and then no, I are talking all the way to
the farmers that provide the corn and wheat to the
plant too, is going to be affected.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
That we know, the ripple effect in smaller towns, you know,
you see from Iowa and I see all these different
types of plants over the years, like may Tag, Joon deer,
especially these days kind of moving out of a lot
of those communities. What about this plant though, in Omaha
makes it very odd or strange that this would be
targeted for a closure. Sure, because the way that we
were talking off of the air, this is a pretty
(04:03):
unique plant in the Kellogg system.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, that's why I was shocked that they would choose
Omaha if they were going to close one plant for
business reasons. You know, Almas is very dynamic. It's the
largest cold food manufacturing plant in North America. They make
twenty four products there. The closest to it is Lancaster,
who they make seven products. And when that plant I
(04:26):
was told by management years ago, when that plant's run
in full steam, they profit a million dollars a day.
So you know, this just kind of has a corporate
greed written all over it.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
For me, speaking with Dan Osbourne, talk about the devastation
this very much could have for the local economy. Here,
what does the next two years look like? Because this
isn't something that is happening tomorrow. This is something that
is announced to land in twenty twenty six, which lines
up with that collective bargaining agreement that you guys had
(04:58):
with the union. You know, three years from this date,
it'll be the five years that you know will expire
in twenty twenty six. What does the next couple of
years look like for people that are working in this plant?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah, so, you know that's the that's one of the
advantages of collective bargaining, right, we have protections added into
that contract or they do excuse me, to where if
there is a plant closure, they have to do it
this way. So they'll run they'll run production and some capacity,
maybe full capacity for the next year, and then in
(05:31):
twenty twenty six, you know, they'll probably take it down
to one line and they'll choose what product to run
and everybody else will be laid off at that point,
and then once the contract expires, then they'll then they
can throw the switch. But like Kenny Merritt said, you know,
the current president of the union, two years is a
long time and there's already been precedents set within the
(05:53):
Kellogg's world. They announced that they were going to take
Battle Creek down to one line, and it seemed like
the writing on the wall there is going to close it. Well,
they've very invested in Battle Creek and you know now
it's back up and running, So I still hold out hope,
you know that they're going to do the right thing
and keep that plant running and keep these people working.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
That's an interesting point there that they did have a
similar idea of what could be the demise of that
plant and it didn't actually come to fruition. Are we
we're not overreacting too soon because this news is everywhere
and you know, you have a lot of information on
you know, all of the types of people in the
different sectors that could be.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Affected by this.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
But what does that look like if we get to
the point where, you know, how do we try to
keep this here? Kellogg certainly is going to have to
be the determining factor, but what would they look at
to try to keep this open or operating in some variety.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, you know, and I've already been in contact with
quite a few different local and state lawmakers and we're
going to try to brainstorm on what we can do.
You know, I have no idea how what actually has
gone into this is is the water too expensive? Is
electricity too expensive? Are they raising the rates? Not sure,
but maybe there's something that we could come to an
(07:09):
agreement with with the city and the state as far
as you know, taxes, utilities, whatever that takes to make
it more affordable to operate here. Because Omaha is a
great city, it's centrally located, it makes sense for shipping,
you know, and we have a very big workforce here
that we can supply. We always have hard working people.
So I think there's the hopefully there's there's something that
(07:33):
we can all work out.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Speaking with Dan Osborne and he is a former union
president of the union at works at Kellogg's here in
Omaha and and other places as well, but also running
a campaign for the Senate here and independent not affiliated
with any political party. And we talked to you about
that part of all this and when you came in
the first time, but you mentioned something that was pretty
(07:56):
interesting to me. The infrastructure of this particular plant has
three of only seven of certain towers that can be
utilized for very specific uses here, Can you explain what
that is in how difficult it might be to kind
of reassign some of some of these you know, what
this plant has done that other plants might not have
(08:18):
the capabilities to do.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah? Absolutely, you know. It's they're called towers, and it's
a part of the puffing process. And they're called towers
because that's essentially what they are. They're huge, they go
up six stories, They take the raw material up six stories,
they inject it with the what kind of nerd out
on your hair with the process, but they inject it
with superheated steam, you know, pellets or a grain of corn,
(08:43):
and then it drops into an expansion tank where it's
negative pressure, and it removes that steam instantly from that
and causes the product to puff. And like you said,
there's there's three of them in Omaha. There's only seven
in the world.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
And so if you're gonna move one of those towers,
I mean it's going to take a tremendous amount of labor.
So I just don't understand. I can't wrap my head
around how that would be beneficial to take one of
those and move it to Mexico or Canada or even
one of the other plants when it's already right here,
up and running.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So and three of them up and running here them
right So, I mean, if you wanted to one for
one keep up whatever production level that you've been on,
you would think all three would have to move somewhere
unless we stop manufacturing what applejacks and fruit loops and
stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yep, corn pops, applejacks, fruit.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Loops, anything that looks like that or feels like that, Yeah,
would be part of this last thing for you, Dan here,
and I really appreciate you coming in with your expertise
on this. But let's say we get to twenty twenty
six and this thing isn't happening.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
They're not going to stay here.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Efforts to try to keep the Kelloggs plant here are unsuccessful.
What happens next? Is there a way that these jobs
can mat it can remain somehow in Omaha? Is there
a way that Kelloggs could come back at some point?
How does that look if they let this contract expire?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, you know, like I said, we're gonna have to
We're going to have to figure out a way to
work working with government officials, local government officials on how
we can make it more lucrative to stay here. And uh,
you know that's going to involve not just Kellogg's right.
We want we want an industry to continue to come
to Omaha and help grow our city uh into something special. Uh.
(10:31):
But yeah, it's it's going to take compromise. And you
know that's the big C word. That's what I'm all about.
You know, that's why I'm running as an independent. I
want to I'm frustrated with the two parties on the
on the catering to their extremes, and I just want
to get back to a day where we could compromise
with one another and just to get things done for
regular people. But I know this isn't the first factory
(10:53):
that's shut down this year. Bimbo Bakery and Bellevue has
shut down at a time where so I'm a steam
fitter now and I was actually involved there. I worked
from a Saturday to a Saturday. I work ninety hours
that week, and we removed the Gli call system and
installed a brand new and the Gli call system makes
ice and chilled water for their processes and then they
(11:14):
shut They put almost a million dollars into that process
and then they shut it down, like the whole plant
down like a month later. I was blown away. I mean,
these are these are these are irresponsible decisions made by management.
I know everybody wants to point the fingers to the workers. Uh,
but but management, if you mismanage a company, you're gonna
you're gonna have problems. And I think that's part of
what we're seeing here too. So it's not just one
(11:36):
entity that causes all this like people like to point
the finger. It's it's more than one.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Well, it's something we're gonna have to keep an eye
on because this, like we talked about, is going to
be kind of a slow burn for the next couple
of years, and we'll see if there's any developments, and
we will certainly keep you up to date. Dan Osborne
uniquely qualified to talk about this. Thank you so much,
Surf for making some time coming out here and chatting
with us about this.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
We'll talk to again, Sue, absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
All right, we'll come back if you've got thoughts on this,
If you or somebody that is also uniquely qualified to
talk about some of these factories that we talked about,
including kell Logs in the news today. You can call
us at four h two five five eight eleven ten.
Four h two five five eight eleven ten. We'll take
your calls next on news Radio eleven ten Kfab.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Emery's songer Share It with someone you on news Radio
eleven ten Kfab.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Twenty twenty six is when the scheduled shutdown of the
Kelloggs plant here in Omaha is And it's not great.
It's not great to hear something like that happening to
a city like ours, where we get told all the
time about all the growth that's happening here, all the
awesome things that Omaha is bringing. We're attractive for people
to come and move. And then you have factories like Bimbo,
and then here you have Kelloggs announcing that they're going
(12:42):
to shut the plant down. Well, if you've got thoughts
on it, we can go ahead and call in. Four
oh two five five eight eleven ten is the phone number.
Johnny's on the line. Hello, Johnny, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
What's up?
Speaker 5 (12:51):
He Thank you for taking my call. I kind of
agree with a lot of what he was saying there,
you know, corporate greed and whatnot. Obviously that's a position
I usually take, but also think that you know, Kellogg's
does have Kelenova whatever they're calling themselves. You know, they
have a position. They play a big part in food security,
which plays in the national security, which you know, we
(13:12):
have influence all around the world. Food production is very important,
and I just feel like, if they're going to drop
the ball, then I think that someone in the community,
someone in Nebraska, or maybe some other investor can step
up and take that part, play that role, you know
what I mean. I think that it's important. There's more
enough people there who know how to run those machines,
know how to work those machines, know how to fix them.
(13:33):
They could probably find an investor or, you know, maybe
start a co op and take a loan out and
start their own business and get going on their own,
you know, Like I don't see. I mean, if kellogg
Is going to be greedy and hoard all the money,
why not work for some a group of people instead
of you know.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, no operation now and Johnny, I think you're onto
something there. The infrastructure for the most part, unless Kellogg's
owns like those towers.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Or whatever, and they're like physically going to move them.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
If they shut this plant down, the infrastructure is going
to exist for somebody to pick up kind of where
this one leaves off, because I think once that contract
is up and they move out, that's kind of up
for grabs if somebody wants to come in, whether it's
a Kellogg's competitor, like you said, kind of a kind
of a new idea. The infrastructure is there. The fact
that there is still two years leads me to believe
(14:20):
that there's going to be a lot of ideas like
that that maybe they'll be able to maintain some sort
of standing in this industry that seemingly Omaha has played
a big role in.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I have one hundred percent agree with you.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Okay, well, thank you, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Hey, no problem, Johnny, You have a good day. Ryan
is on our phone line. Ryan. We appreciate you for
calling in. What's on your mind?
Speaker 6 (14:39):
Hey, it's sad to think, ohmm, may lose the Kelloggs
factory in this five hundred jobs and thinking about allocation
of fun. You know, a lot of that streetcar money
potentially could have been used to help save the Kelouts factory.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
In these five hundred jobs, you.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Helps, what's more important the Kellogg's factory or a streetcar?
Speaker 5 (14:56):
To put things in.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Perpective, yeah, I'm here, and yeah, I I think there
might be some political workarounds they'd have to use to
just like hand money over. I think if it's a
money problem for Omaha, I think it's a property tax
thing or a general tax thing. It would be my guest.
But Ryan, I'm picking up what you're putting down on that.
Thanks for the call. Mike's on the phone line of
(15:20):
four h two, five, five, eight to eleven ten. Mike,
what's on your mind?
Speaker 6 (15:22):
Hey, Emory, what's going on? Man? Okay? So I used
to work out at Kellogg's and I was there during
the strike. And let me tell you, first of all,
Dan Osburn is what we call a scab union leader, Okay,
which is the worst thing you can call a union leader?
Dan Osburn say, oh, I'm running for independent. Dan used
(15:44):
to have communist propaganda all over his social media site
that all got screpted.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Mike, I don't want to talk about I mean, like,
I appreciate you talking about that, but I just want.
Speaker 6 (15:54):
To talk about talk about Kelloggs. So when we're out there.
I had a stretch where I worked ninety one straight
days without a day off, averaging seventy six to eighty
four hours a week. There is a two tier wage system, right,
And Dan said, well, we're fighting for the two tier
wage system. Well not really. That had been there for
(16:16):
in place for a couple of decades. And so the
you as me as what was considered a part time
then what was considered legacy employees. Now I have no problem. Listen, man,
I get seniority. I respect it. I get you got
to prove yourself. You got to put your time in,
get up to pay. I had that. But the deal
was is we were making like fifteen dollars an hour
(16:37):
less doing the exact same jobs, the exact same qualifications,
Like you're required to run and know multiple lines, multiple qualifications,
multiple four clips, multiple towers like Dan talked about sand blasters,
all this stuff. So I gept putting in your time.
But when they wanted this contract, and I told everybody this,
I stood in front of the meeting and told everybody,
(16:58):
I said, you know me, management out there would open.
They were bitter, they were super bitter about the striking.
They told everybody, well, you know, we moved to Mexico.
And I said, that's just what's going to happen, because
they flat out they loved to say, well we pay
them four dollars an hour down there in Mexico. We're
you're paying guys almost forty an hour up here. Plus
you get pension, plus you had free healthcare. It was
(17:18):
an awesome job if you were a legacy employment. Now
you were there seven days a week and you were
put in a lot of hours. It was a lifestyle.
Tell us it was a lifestyle, but you know it was.
It was a good job if you could, if you
could live that lifestyle and do that. But I told him,
I said, if we fold on this, they're going to
take this plan, don't they everybody, Oh no, they're not
going to move to Mexico. Yeah, they would just watch
(17:39):
if we fold. I told them, they're going to take this,
they're going to move to Mexico. Because the whole thing.
Memory would sign a five year contract to get eight
years for us to be on to get out of
the two tier wage system, and so well five years
they can throw away the contract and for all of
us that are not legacy, you repped contract. It doesn't
mean nothing. Everybody folded and now they're closing shot and
(18:00):
they're going ahead to Mexico, just like I told everybody,
and it's all come to Prussia.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
It's interesting, Mike. I really appreciate the information there. Thanks
so much for calling us today.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
You got it, man.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, I'm not going to pretend like I know what
exactly a two tiered you know, pay system would have
looked like, or or exactly what it would have looked
like if they didn't fold or whatever. I do know
that the two years between now and when this is
expected to close, this Kellogg's plant is expected to close,
what might be the uh might be the changes that
(18:30):
could be made, especially considering that Dan did say that
there was an example in Battle Creek where they had
announced that a plant was going to be closed, but
then figured it out and the plant was reoperating and
never really stopped. So there's something we said for that too.
It's a pretty complex conversation, I think, in a lot
of different ways, and it's one hopefully can be resolved
(18:52):
in some way so the community doesn't lose these jobs
or this business and their important status within this industry,
which I think we kind of took for granted here
if you weren't working for them.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Three twenty nine is the time.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
If you've got thoughts on this or anything else we
talked about, you can call us at four oh two
five five eight eleven ten. Four oh two, five five,
eight eleven ten and we roll on next on news
radio eleven ten KFAB.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Emery Sunger on news Radio eleven ten kfab
Dan Osborne.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
We've had him on the show because he's a candidate
for US Senate, but he also as we talked Dan
the first time that we met was your background. You
have been in leadership through unions and that includes in
this plant. Before can you kind of explain what your
background is with this group previously?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Yes, I spent three years as a president of BCTGM
fifty G and I helped lead to strike here in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Okay, so that is something we probably need to start with.
But before I do that, Kellogg's in itself with this
announcement or that we understand that they're going to plan
to close this plant in twenty twenty six. What was
your initial reaction.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
My initial reaction was discussed. You know, this is going
to be devastating to our local economy here and in
the state of Nebraska. There's generations of people that have
worked there. You know, it's been a staple in Omaha
for over sixty years. I know a guy there who's
fourth generation, uh, and so you know, these these are
(01:04):
these are hard working people that have dedicated a lot
of time and energy into making that plant successful.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
This plant specifically, as you mentioned, there was that strike
how long ago was that three years? Three years ago?
So do you think that had something to do with this.
I'm sure that the people out there might speculate that
are familiar with that, that this could there could be
a very friction led relationship between the company and also
(01:34):
this particular market.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, you know, there there's certainly uh you know, I
wouldn't I wouldn't rule it out, but without having any
defitentive information, I guess we'll probably never know that if
that was part of their decision making. But you know,
there's a good chance that it's not. Look because that uh,
that contract that we negotiated three years ago, uh, you know,
we really didn't get a whole lot. Uh And and
(01:57):
and the at the umbrella is there's also three other
manufacturing plants included in that, once in Pennsylvania, won in
Battle Creek, Michigan, and one in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. So, you know,
just to shut down Omaha doesn't seem like an attack
on the union. And I just want to touch about
that strike too. You know, that was during COVID, at
a time when Kellogg's made record profits. They went from
(02:18):
nineteen billion to twenty one billion dollars. The CEO gave
himself two million dollar raised, the board enriched themselves, stockholders
enriched themselves. And you know, at the same swipe of
the pen they tried to take from their workers, they
tried to go after our health insurance, cost of living
adjustments and create a permanent two tier wage system. So
that's that's why we had to do what we did.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
We're speaking with Dan Osborne, he is the former president
of the union who we hear the union jobs part
of this, that there's going to be a few hundred
union jobs at least that are going to be lost
here when this Kellogg's plant closes in a couple of years.
But you're kind of explaining to me that there's a
lot more to it than just these union jobs, correct.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I mean, you think about how big this corporation is.
You know, there's hr jobs, management jobs. You know, you're
talking well over one hundred, as well as the five
hundred factory floor workers, mechanics, electricians, and then also you'll
you'll have a you'll have a local impact on truck drivers,
rail you know, the buildings and trades have a ton
(03:21):
of people in there working. They they have they actually
have a trailers set up, so they're there full time
as well as people who sell the manufacturing supplies, you know,
and then no, I are talking all the way to
the farmers that provide the corn and wheat to the
plant too, is going to be affected.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
That we know, the ripple effect in smaller towns, you know,
you see from Iowa and I see all these different
types of plants over the years, like may Tag, Joon deer,
especially these days kind of moving out of a lot
of those communities. What about this plant though, in Omaha
makes it very odd or strange that this would be
targeted for a closure. Sure, because the way that we
were talking off of the air, this is a pretty
(04:03):
unique plant in the Kellogg system.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, that's why I was shocked that they would choose
Omaha if they were going to close one plant for
business reasons. You know, Almas is very dynamic. It's the
largest cold food manufacturing plant in North America. They make
twenty four products there. The closest to it is Lancaster,
who they make seven products. And when that plant I
(04:26):
was told by management years ago, when that plant's run
in full steam, they profit a million dollars a day.
So you know, this just kind of has a corporate
greed written all over it.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
For me, speaking with Dan Osbourne, talk about the devastation
this very much could have for the local economy. Here,
what does the next two years look like? Because this
isn't something that is happening tomorrow. This is something that
is announced to land in twenty twenty six, which lines
up with that collective bargaining agreement that you guys had
(04:58):
with the union. You know, three years from this date,
it'll be the five years that you know will expire
in twenty twenty six. What does the next couple of
years look like for people that are working in this plant?
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah, so, you know that's the that's one of the
advantages of collective bargaining, right, we have protections added into
that contract or they do excuse me, to where if
there is a plant closure, they have to do it
this way. So they'll run they'll run production and some capacity,
maybe full capacity for the next year, and then in
(05:31):
twenty twenty six, you know, they'll probably take it down
to one line and they'll choose what product to run
and everybody else will be laid off at that point,
and then once the contract expires, then they'll then they
can throw the switch. But like Kenny Merritt said, you know,
the current president of the union, two years is a
long time and there's already been precedents set within the
(05:53):
Kellogg's world. They announced that they were going to take
Battle Creek down to one line, and it seemed like
the writing on the wall there is going to close it. Well,
they've very invested in Battle Creek and you know now
it's back up and running, So I still hold out hope,
you know that they're going to do the right thing
and keep that plant running and keep these people working.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
That's an interesting point there that they did have a
similar idea of what could be the demise of that
plant and it didn't actually come to fruition. Are we
we're not overreacting too soon because this news is everywhere
and you know, you have a lot of information on
you know, all of the types of people in the
different sectors that could be.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Affected by this.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
But what does that look like if we get to
the point where, you know, how do we try to
keep this here? Kellogg certainly is going to have to
be the determining factor, but what would they look at
to try to keep this open or operating in some variety.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, you know, and I've already been in contact with
quite a few different local and state lawmakers and we're
going to try to brainstorm on what we can do.
You know, I have no idea how what actually has
gone into this is is the water too expensive? Is
electricity too expensive? Are they raising the rates? Not sure,
but maybe there's something that we could come to an
(07:09):
agreement with with the city and the state as far
as you know, taxes, utilities, whatever that takes to make
it more affordable to operate here. Because Omaha is a
great city, it's centrally located, it makes sense for shipping,
you know, and we have a very big workforce here
that we can supply. We always have hard working people.
So I think there's the hopefully there's there's something that
(07:33):
we can all work out.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Speaking with Dan Osborne and he is a former union
president of the union at works at Kellogg's here in
Omaha and and other places as well, but also running
a campaign for the Senate here and independent not affiliated
with any political party. And we talked to you about
that part of all this and when you came in
the first time, but you mentioned something that was pretty
(07:56):
interesting to me. The infrastructure of this particular plant has
three of only seven of certain towers that can be
utilized for very specific uses here, Can you explain what
that is in how difficult it might be to kind
of reassign some of some of these you know, what
this plant has done that other plants might not have
(08:18):
the capabilities to do.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah? Absolutely, you know. It's they're called towers, and it's
a part of the puffing process. And they're called towers
because that's essentially what they are. They're huge, they go
up six stories, They take the raw material up six stories,
they inject it with the what kind of nerd out
on your hair with the process, but they inject it
with superheated steam, you know, pellets or a grain of corn,
(08:43):
and then it drops into an expansion tank where it's
negative pressure, and it removes that steam instantly from that
and causes the product to puff. And like you said,
there's there's three of them in Omaha. There's only seven
in the world.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
And so if you're gonna move one of those towers,
I mean it's going to take a tremendous amount of labor.
So I just don't understand. I can't wrap my head
around how that would be beneficial to take one of
those and move it to Mexico or Canada or even
one of the other plants when it's already right here,
up and running.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So and three of them up and running here them
right So, I mean, if you wanted to one for
one keep up whatever production level that you've been on,
you would think all three would have to move somewhere
unless we stop manufacturing what applejacks and fruit loops and
stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yep, corn pops, applejacks, fruit.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Loops, anything that looks like that or feels like that, Yeah,
would be part of this last thing for you, Dan here,
and I really appreciate you coming in with your expertise
on this. But let's say we get to twenty twenty
six and this thing isn't happening.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
They're not going to stay here.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Efforts to try to keep the Kelloggs plant here are unsuccessful.
What happens next? Is there a way that these jobs
can mat it can remain somehow in Omaha? Is there
a way that Kelloggs could come back at some point?
How does that look if they let this contract expire?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, you know, like I said, we're gonna have to
We're going to have to figure out a way to
work working with government officials, local government officials on how
we can make it more lucrative to stay here. And uh,
you know that's going to involve not just Kellogg's right.
We want we want an industry to continue to come
to Omaha and help grow our city uh into something special. Uh.
(10:31):
But yeah, it's it's going to take compromise. And you
know that's the big C word. That's what I'm all about.
You know, that's why I'm running as an independent. I
want to I'm frustrated with the two parties on the
on the catering to their extremes, and I just want
to get back to a day where we could compromise
with one another and just to get things done for
regular people. But I know this isn't the first factory
(10:53):
that's shut down this year. Bimbo Bakery and Bellevue has
shut down at a time where so I'm a steam
fitter now and I was actually involved there. I worked
from a Saturday to a Saturday. I work ninety hours
that week, and we removed the Gli call system and
installed a brand new and the Gli call system makes
ice and chilled water for their processes and then they
(11:14):
shut They put almost a million dollars into that process
and then they shut it down, like the whole plant
down like a month later. I was blown away. I mean,
these are these are these are irresponsible decisions made by management.
I know everybody wants to point the fingers to the workers. Uh,
but but management, if you mismanage a company, you're gonna
you're gonna have problems. And I think that's part of
what we're seeing here too. So it's not just one
(11:36):
entity that causes all this like people like to point
the finger. It's it's more than one.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Well, it's something we're gonna have to keep an eye
on because this, like we talked about, is going to
be kind of a slow burn for the next couple
of years, and we'll see if there's any developments, and
we will certainly keep you up to date. Dan Osborne
uniquely qualified to talk about this. Thank you so much,
Surf for making some time coming out here and chatting
with us about this.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
We'll talk to again, Sue, absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
All right, we'll come back if you've got thoughts on this,
If you or somebody that is also uniquely qualified to
talk about some of these factories that we talked about,
including kell Logs in the news today. You can call
us at four h two five five eight eleven ten.
Four h two five five eight eleven ten. We'll take
your calls next on news Radio eleven ten Kfab.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Emery's songer Share It with someone you on news Radio
eleven ten Kfab.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Twenty twenty six is when the scheduled shutdown of the
Kelloggs plant here in Omaha is And it's not great.
It's not great to hear something like that happening to
a city like ours, where we get told all the
time about all the growth that's happening here, all the
awesome things that Omaha is bringing. We're attractive for people
to come and move. And then you have factories like Bimbo,
and then here you have Kelloggs announcing that they're going
(12:42):
to shut the plant down. Well, if you've got thoughts
on it, we can go ahead and call in. Four
oh two five five eight eleven ten is the phone number.
Johnny's on the line. Hello, Johnny, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
What's up?
Speaker 5 (12:51):
He Thank you for taking my call. I kind of
agree with a lot of what he was saying there,
you know, corporate greed and whatnot. Obviously that's a position
I usually take, but also think that you know, Kellogg's
does have Kelenova whatever they're calling themselves. You know, they
have a position. They play a big part in food security,
which plays in the national security, which you know, we
(13:12):
have influence all around the world. Food production is very important,
and I just feel like, if they're going to drop
the ball, then I think that someone in the community,
someone in Nebraska, or maybe some other investor can step
up and take that part, play that role, you know
what I mean. I think that it's important. There's more
enough people there who know how to run those machines,
know how to work those machines, know how to fix them.
(13:33):
They could probably find an investor or, you know, maybe
start a co op and take a loan out and
start their own business and get going on their own,
you know, Like I don't see. I mean, if kellogg
Is going to be greedy and hoard all the money,
why not work for some a group of people instead
of you know.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, no operation now and Johnny, I think you're onto
something there. The infrastructure for the most part, unless Kellogg's
owns like those towers.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Or whatever, and they're like physically going to move them.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
If they shut this plant down, the infrastructure is going
to exist for somebody to pick up kind of where
this one leaves off, because I think once that contract
is up and they move out, that's kind of up
for grabs if somebody wants to come in, whether it's
a Kellogg's competitor, like you said, kind of a kind
of a new idea. The infrastructure is there. The fact
that there is still two years leads me to believe
(14:20):
that there's going to be a lot of ideas like
that that maybe they'll be able to maintain some sort
of standing in this industry that seemingly Omaha has played
a big role in.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I have one hundred percent agree with you.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Okay, well, thank you, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Hey, no problem, Johnny, You have a good day. Ryan
is on our phone line. Ryan. We appreciate you for
calling in. What's on your mind?
Speaker 6 (14:39):
Hey, it's sad to think, ohmm, may lose the Kelloggs
factory in this five hundred jobs and thinking about allocation
of fun. You know, a lot of that streetcar money
potentially could have been used to help save the Kelouts factory.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
In these five hundred jobs, you.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Helps, what's more important the Kellogg's factory or a streetcar?
Speaker 5 (14:56):
To put things in.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Perpective, yeah, I'm here, and yeah, I I think there
might be some political workarounds they'd have to use to
just like hand money over. I think if it's a
money problem for Omaha, I think it's a property tax
thing or a general tax thing. It would be my guest.
But Ryan, I'm picking up what you're putting down on that.
Thanks for the call. Mike's on the phone line of
(15:20):
four h two, five, five, eight to eleven ten. Mike,
what's on your mind?
Speaker 6 (15:22):
Hey, Emory, what's going on? Man? Okay? So I used
to work out at Kellogg's and I was there during
the strike. And let me tell you, first of all,
Dan Osburn is what we call a scab union leader, Okay,
which is the worst thing you can call a union leader?
Dan Osburn say, oh, I'm running for independent. Dan used
(15:44):
to have communist propaganda all over his social media site
that all got screpted.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Mike, I don't want to talk about I mean, like,
I appreciate you talking about that, but I just want.
Speaker 6 (15:54):
To talk about talk about Kelloggs. So when we're out there.
I had a stretch where I worked ninety one straight
days without a day off, averaging seventy six to eighty
four hours a week. There is a two tier wage system, right,
And Dan said, well, we're fighting for the two tier
wage system. Well not really. That had been there for
(16:16):
in place for a couple of decades. And so the
you as me as what was considered a part time
then what was considered legacy employees. Now I have no problem. Listen, man,
I get seniority. I respect it. I get you got
to prove yourself. You got to put your time in,
get up to pay. I had that. But the deal
was is we were making like fifteen dollars an hour
(16:37):
less doing the exact same jobs, the exact same qualifications,
Like you're required to run and know multiple lines, multiple qualifications,
multiple four clips, multiple towers like Dan talked about sand blasters,
all this stuff. So I gept putting in your time.
But when they wanted this contract, and I told everybody this,
I stood in front of the meeting and told everybody,
(16:58):
I said, you know me, management out there would open.
They were bitter, they were super bitter about the striking.
They told everybody, well, you know, we moved to Mexico.
And I said, that's just what's going to happen, because
they flat out they loved to say, well we pay
them four dollars an hour down there in Mexico. We're
you're paying guys almost forty an hour up here. Plus
you get pension, plus you had free healthcare. It was
(17:18):
an awesome job if you were a legacy employment. Now
you were there seven days a week and you were
put in a lot of hours. It was a lifestyle.
Tell us it was a lifestyle, but you know it was.
It was a good job if you could, if you
could live that lifestyle and do that. But I told him,
I said, if we fold on this, they're going to
take this plan, don't they everybody, Oh no, they're not
going to move to Mexico. Yeah, they would just watch
(17:39):
if we fold. I told them, they're going to take this,
they're going to move to Mexico. Because the whole thing.
Memory would sign a five year contract to get eight
years for us to be on to get out of
the two tier wage system, and so well five years
they can throw away the contract and for all of
us that are not legacy, you repped contract. It doesn't
mean nothing. Everybody folded and now they're closing shot and
(18:00):
they're going ahead to Mexico, just like I told everybody,
and it's all come to Prussia.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
It's interesting, Mike. I really appreciate the information there. Thanks
so much for calling us today.
Speaker 6 (18:08):
You got it, man.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, I'm not going to pretend like I know what
exactly a two tiered you know, pay system would have
looked like, or or exactly what it would have looked
like if they didn't fold or whatever. I do know
that the two years between now and when this is
expected to close, this Kellogg's plant is expected to close,
what might be the uh might be the changes that
(18:30):
could be made, especially considering that Dan did say that
there was an example in Battle Creek where they had
announced that a plant was going to be closed, but
then figured it out and the plant was reoperating and
never really stopped. So there's something we said for that too.
It's a pretty complex conversation, I think, in a lot
of different ways, and it's one hopefully can be resolved
(18:52):
in some way so the community doesn't lose these jobs
or this business and their important status within this industry,
which I think we kind of took for granted here
if you weren't working for them.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Three twenty nine is the time.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
If you've got thoughts on this or anything else we
talked about, you can call us at four oh two
five five eight eleven ten. Four oh two, five five,
eight eleven ten and we roll on next on news
radio eleven ten KFAB.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Emery Sunger on news Radio eleven ten kfab
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