Unfortunately, the closure of the Lancaster Cereal Facility (recently Post Consumer Brands, formerly Treehouse, formerly ConAgra, formerly Ralston, formerly General Mills) is not unique in small town America. It isn’t even unique in Lancaster. Brian Alexander’s 2017 book Glass House: The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the All-American Town details how family-sustaining union manufacturing jobs at nearby Anchor Hocking Glass have been destroyed by a series of buyouts that benefited corporate executives and made working-class Lancaster the epicenter of the opioid epidemic in Ohio. The 160 UE members of Locals 718 and 777 likely won’t be featured in any books, but they deserve to have their story told. Chuck Davis, a 47 year employee at the Lancaster Cereal Facility, came to the Western Region Council as a delegate from Local 777 to give his local’s final shop report.
Chuck Davis, Local 777, giving his local’s final shop report at the Western Region Council meeting, September 2024.
Other delegates held back tears as Chuck spoke of the long struggle members have faced in the leadup to the plant closure. Though both locals were able to negotiate excellent severance packages, having to continue to go to work every day from the initial plant closure announcement in November of 2023 through October 4, 2024 with a proverbial ax hanging over their heads was constantly demoralizing. They did it anyway to support their families as long as they could, knowing that they would not likely be able to find equivalent jobs nearby. Many had worked through plant closures in the past. This was the third closure of a unionized manufacturing plant Local 718 President Eric Walkins has worked through. As an electrician, he has been able to find a new job, but the experience left a bitter taste in his mouth and he recognized other UE members might not be as lucky. He said, “These jobs meant everything to us and supported many in the surrounding communities, but Post doesn’t care.”
It turns out many people who hold positions of power don’t care. When members were exploring options to prevent the plant closure, they reached out to every elected official representing the area, regardless of political party, searching for potential solutions. Local 718 Chief Steward Rodney Abrams said, “Isn’t this [Senator] JD Vance’s thing? Defending Appalachia?” Vance, author of a book called Hillbilly Elegy about his childhood growing up in Ohio, and now a candidate for Vice President, never responded to member calls or emails.
Some members of Locals 718 and 777 do identify as “hillbillies” or “rednecks” and recall the stories their ancestors told about the tough fights to bring unions to nearby coal mines (now also shuttered). They weren’t looking for an elegy, they were looking for dignified solutions. “This has been my whole life,” said Local 718 Vice President Timothy Baker. “These companies always leave Appalachia behind. We did everything they wanted us to do so we could provide for our families, some of us have worked here for decades.”
UE Local 718 Chief Steward Rodney Abrams explains the situation faced by Local 718 and 777 members to Emma Speyer, Central Ohio Regional Representative for Senator Sherrod Brown, December 2023.
Only one elected official above the local level responded to members: Senator Sherrod Brown. Brown, who is up for reelection this year, was needed in Washington for end-of-year voting during effects bargaining. However, he personally supported the members on social media, provided a team of staff to support the members virtually during bargaining, and sent a representative to the site to further pressure Post into improving the severance package so that members could win 12 weeks of company paid health insurance after the closure, increased severance payments, and support as they look for new jobs. Chuck Davis said, “Sherrod Brown has been on the side of workers here for a long time. I was proud when Western Region President Bryan Martindale suggested the Western Region endorse him.”