Hillary Clinton met with Nabisco factory workers on Monday to express concern about looming layoffs.
Mondelez International, which owns the plant on Chicago’s South Side, announced over the summer that it would be cutting 600 jobs. The first round of layoffs were announced in January and, as one employee told the Guardian, the rest of them just feel like they’re waiting for their turn.
The Democratic frontrunner addressed the situation earlier this month at a Detroit campaign event where she said, “If a company like Nabisco outsources and ships jobs overseas, we’ll make you give back the tax breaks you receive here in America.” She reiterated the sentiment on Monday, a day ahead of the Illinois Democratic primary, noting that Nabisco has received several tax benefits over the years from Illinois taxpayers to expand production. “I think they should have to pay that money back,” she said, so that it could be used to “reinvest in the community and the workers.”
According to the Bureau of Labor, American manufacturing increased by 0.9% between August 2014 and August 2015, but in that same time period Chicago’s manufacturing jobs decreased by 1.3%.
As the Chips Ahoy and Oreo cookie manufacturer fires those U.S. workers, a move that disproportionately affects black and Latino employees, it is also moving some production to Mexico. When the news was announced over the summer, Donald Trump, though he incorrectly stated that Nabisco was closing its Chicago factory, said he would boycott Oreos in protest.
