Nabisco workers say their strike is "a fight for the American middle class"
CBSN
Nabisco workers now walking picket lines in four U.S. states say their first strike in 52 years is about keeping what they already had as employees producing Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers and other snacks for the global food conglomerate.
More than 1,000 Nabisco workers are staying off the job in Colorado, Illinois, Oregon and Virginia, according to their union, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International, or BCTGM. The labor dispute began with workers at the Nabisco bakery in Portland calling a strike nearly three weeks ago and has since spread, with workers in Chicago joining the labor action on Thursday. "We're fighting for a fair contract, no concessions," Yvette Hale, who has worked at Nabisco's Chicago bakery nearly 22 years, told CBS MoneyWatch. "Everyone is angry, as you never know if you're going to work eight hours, 12 hours or 16 hours."Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.