Huffington Post: Labor Says Mott's Apples Are Rotten to the Core

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-winship/labor-says-motts-apples-a_b_692600.html

Posted: August 24, 2010 12:08 PM


Michael Winship
Senior writer at Bill Moyers Journal on PBS

Among the many TV ad jingles sadly cluttering my brain since childhood (although useful in trivia contests) is the one that went, "The finest apples from Apple Land/Make Mott's Apple Sauce taste grand!"

A branchful of the juicy, singing fruit would belt it out at the end of commercials that urged us to use applesauce to accompany meats, slather onto bread, spoon on top of ice cream, spackle drywall, you name it.

The Mott's commercials were especially meaningful where I grew up because we lived in Apple Land -- western New York State, not far from the town of Williamson, where workers at a Mott's factory have been out on strike since May 23rd.

The job action was started by 305 working men and women, members of Local 220 of the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Whether they win or lose could play a role in determining the future of organized labor -- and the vanishing American middle class.

Mott's purchases between six and seven million bushels of New York apples every year -- more than half of all the apples produced in the state -- and has gone through a number of acquisitions and consolidations since Samuel R. Mott, a Quaker who made his own apple cider and vinegar, founded the company in 1842.

Today it's owned by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (DPS), based in Plano, Texas. Ever since the takeover, union members claim, the family spirit at the factory that once included an effective worker-management safety committee, Christmas parties, Easter hams and company picnics has been destroyed. Corporate greed, they say, has marched in with a vengeance.

FULL story at link.

[LiberalFighter]

1. Never heard of Mott's til this year.

[hedgehog]

2. I live about 15 miles away and the only info I've had on this

is what I've tripped over here.