Boycott Kettle Chips

Shame as they're deliciously snackable.

They keep sending me free packets (i.e. one every eight months or so)

Can I eat those?

No, send them to me and I will dispose of them in a way which avoids worker exploitation.

hmm, not sure about this. i'll keep buying and enjoying their crisps until they actually do something that i disagree with, as opposed to not liking trade union for the sake of it.

they came for the crisp manufacturers, but i said nothing, because i was not a crisp manufacturer...

'they' could just as easily refer to muscle-flexing unions.

the muscle flexing unions these workers aren't allowed to join?

allowed?

para 1:

A British private equity company has called in one of the leading US union-busters to stop workers at one of the country's best-known upmarket crisp producers, Kettle Chips, joining a trade union.

"We were called in by the workers when they did not receive annualised payments for overtime." -- Miles Hubbard, Unite's eastern region organiser

whoa watch those muscles, they could put somebody's eye out!

KETTLECHIP POTEMKIN!

para 2:

The California-based Burke Group has been engaged by Lion Capital, owners of Kettle Foods, to dissuade the 340 workers at their Norwich factory from joining Unite, the country's largest union.

maybe i misunderstand 'dissuade'. i certainly don't equate it with 'stop'.

darraghmac that's pitiful.

rest of the article not count?

they don't seem to be engaging in anything like unfair work practices or bad pay/conditions, quite the contrary.

KETTLECHIP POTEMKIN!

-- Pete, Monday, October 1, 2007 3:37 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

omg

they don't seem to be engaging in anything like unfair work practices or bad pay/conditions, quite the contrary.

-- darraghmac, Monday, October 1, 2007 3:39 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

except they didn't receive the annualized pay for overtime...

can't the workers join the union anyway tracer?

what, exactly can these 'union-busters' do? i'm genuinely curious.

from wikipedia (the whole article is worth reading):

Methods of union busting

* 4.1 Dirty tricks
* 4.2 Propaganda
* 4.3 Intelligence operations
* 4.4 Legal obstruction
* 4.5 Favoritism and division
* 4.6 Creating an illusion of progress
* 4.7 Supervisors at the point of attack
* 4.8 Declare innocence; comply with the law; blame the union
* 4.9 Strike breaking
* 4.10 Lockouts

http://www.tbglabor.com/

Is there a Facebook group I can join to express solidarity with these workers?

Positive employee relations and labor relations can best be attained by effective leadership and programs that:

* Treat all employees with dignity and respect
* Encourage participation in decisions impacting employee work lives
* Select, train, and develop effective frontline leadership
* Communicate openly and honestly with employees
* Resolve workplace concerns and issues in a timely equitable manner
* Compensate employees consistent with marketplace philosophy
* Recognize and reward exemplary performance
* Review processes to ensure a fit with client culture and values
* Ensure that policies and practices are applied consistently

^^^ see? no problem

yes, theoretically i see what you're driving at.

i just don't see enough evidence to boycott the company just yet. the union obviously wants in, the company obviously doesn't want them in.

yes there are two sides to every story after all

Are they called Kettle Crisps in the UK? I mean, wouldn't Kettle Chips confuse the poor Britishers and make them think they're buying a bag of soggy freedom fries?

we are not quite that stupid (almost, just not quite)

Do you have pork rinds in the UK?

the union obviously wants in, the company obviously doesn't want them in.

It shouldn't be up to the company in the first place.

http://www.hairybarsnacks.com/images/pork_scratching_picture3.jpg

xp

Mmm, pork scratchings!

It shouldn't be up to the company in the first place

and it's not. but why is it taken for granted that company=evil workers=downtrodden masses union=fair balance.

maybe i'm just tetchy after the tube strike ruined my week in london.
I'm just saying that it'd take a lot more than what's in the article above to get me out on the street with my firebrand killing executives.

(or boycotting delicious crisps)

Kettle Kracklin's

that would probably read better with ; between evil and workers and again between masses and union, sorry.

but the tube drivers were right to strike darragh ;)

(jol out!)

i hope kettle chips ppl realise the folly of not letting the workers unionise, brit unions are so near to toothless it's perverse not to, because you get a wodge of bad publicity and bad feeling among staff, rather than working with them that costs you next to nothing.

christ if even WALMART realise this, it seems to be the sensible way forward...

and it's not. but why is it taken for granted that company=evil workers=downtrodden masses union=fair balance

for me, its because the only time i ever had to go on strike (which i didn't want to do) it was because my employer was pulling shit like this, not paying for work done, and they would have continued to do so if we hadn't gone on strike. i needed the right to strike, the right to union representation, and i don't see why others should be denied it.

which isn't to say, unions are all great etc, obviously. but that's how my sympathies fall.

i had the jamacian jerk flavor last night it was yumm

If the workers want to join a union, they should be allowed to join a union. If the owners don't want their workers to join a union and take steps to prevent this, then they should get an anal massage with a broomstick. It doesn't matter a damn whether the workers' lot will improve under a union. They have a right to free association and to collective bargaining, regardless.

Kettle chips are excellent. The Jalapeno hot are especially tasty.

Under the Taft Hartley Act in the US it's illegal to use these kind of tactics to prevent unionizing. Query whether Britain has such a law.

The thing is, frankly, this is an easy boycott - there are loads of delicious crisps out there!

Time to go back to Sabritones.

http://www.greentourismadvice.co.uk/supplierphotos/41.jpg

xxp none deliciouser though! hello, spicy thai. the price is what makes it a relatively easy boycott.

spicy thai chips are godlike

http://www.tyrrellspotatochips.co.uk/nav_potatochips/logo.gif

'Spensive tho.

Cheap and delicious!
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:O84QW2LVU2kZKM:http://snackspot.org.uk/images/walkersWorcesterSauce.jpeg

haha Taft-Hartley, known for imposing limits on employers!

xp
And now free from Sudan1!

http://www.atlantaillustrated.com/blogs/blog02/uploaded_images/hot%20fries%202-763936.jpg

cheap and delicious!

kettle chips a bit too oily and salty and overflavoured but hell i'm in for a boycott. thank god only kettle chips have shitty labour relations, i might have to boycott things i regularly buy.

and they are TOO HARD.

britain, on signing up to the EU workers charter thingy (it has a proper name) only ten years after everyone else, due to TORY, introduced a relatively limited right to free asociation, in that it doesn't apply to small and medium sized employers (under 250 staff), but in larger in employers they MUST recognise a union (and therefore negotiate with it) once 50% of a appropriate group of staff join said union. you also have to right to be accompanied by a union representative to disciplinary/greivance procedures whether union is recognised or not (i *think*).

man i totally used to know ALL this stuff...

salt and pepper kettle chips might be the best chips ever made

Top 5, for sure.

chaki otm

yes. CHAKI FOR PRESIDENT

2x otm

top 5 chips

1. kettle - salt and pepper
2. trader joes - salsa chips (RIP)
3. fritos - honey bbq twists
4. birdseye hawaiian - sweet maui onion
5. doritos - nacho

We don't get some of those over here. I still have a lot of love for Salt & Vinegar Pringles too, the Crystal Meth of potato snacks.

salt and pepper kettle chips might be the best chips ever made

I agree.

http://www.typophile.com/files/utz_3593.gif

Chaki there is something missing from yr list and its name is Hostess brand Ketchup Chips. I had them in Toronto and OMGOMGOMGOMG!

oh i need to try those.... also missing are any form of pickle chips but mostly Charlie's Chips - Dill Pickle flavor.

wau
http://www.taquitos.net/dbimages13/Lays-K.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/3/4833733_7d6d716a33.jpg

i've repeated this story, but once in north england i bought lamb + mint crisps at a gas station. grossed the whole car out. could only finish 2/3 the bag.

there is a facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5233937858&ref=mf

yes, theoretically i see what you're driving at.

i just don't see enough evidence to boycott the company just yet. the union obviously wants in, the company obviously doesn't want them in.

-- darraghmac, Monday, October 1, 2007 10:06 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark Link

A union is not some outside entity that foists itself on a company. It is a collective of workers who want the to have access to the same power that their employer has through the employer's alliance in trade orgs, etc. The union doesn't just come in and say "Oh hi, we're going to organize your workers," the workers have to actively seek out a union to help them organize. Organizers jobs are hard enough without banging their heads against a wall trying to organize the unwilling.

And obviously a company does not want their workers represented by a union! Having the balance of power solidly in your favor is a pretty sweet state of affairs.

And lastly, union busters are the lowest of the low. A curse on their heads.

how do union busters work, exactly?

I don't have time to go into it, but pretty much divide and conquer. And intimidate. See Wikipedia.

there was preemptive union busting at the hospital where I worked in Iowa a long time ago. It was ugly to see. It was in response to the presence of an organizer in the workforce - somebody who'd asked around about whether people might want to unionize and had made it known, evidently to one too many people, that he could help make it happen.

The hospital hired a firm that specialized in preempting unionization. All the supervisors were given training, and then, over the course of a week or so, on every potentially affected ward of the hospital, employees were called in one at a time to meet with two or three supervisors, who'd then ask us: "Do you have any needs or concerns that aren't being addressed by the hospital?" "Are you aware that if you feel you need a raise or more time off, etc., you can bring that up with your direct supervisor at any time?" "Do you feel you are being treated unfairly by management?" etc etc. Few employees are likely to respond to such a situation by saying "Yeah, there's a hell of a lot that's messed up about this place": you're sitting there surrounded by bosses, and you're all alone. Then they ask you to sign a document that says you don't have any concerns that you want addressed right away. It doesn't say you don't want to unionize; it just says that you were given an opportunity to voice any concerns and you didn't have any at that time. Once everybody's signed (and everybody signs, believe me), they present these documents to union leadership and tell them to leave the hospital alone since the workers have stated they are all quite happy.

Reason # 123,694 in a series relating to why if you gotta work in the medical field you'll wanna stay the fuck out of managed care.

Oh yeh. And spreading lies and misuderstanding about what a union is.

xpost

oh chaki, the dill chips were my favorite ever. mmmm dill. i love dill.

i need a union-buster in the nausea in my gut

I still have a lot of love for Salt & Vinegar Pringles too, the Crystal Meth of potato snacks.

Have you tried the 'rice' pringles? They are PCP in crisp form.

D@rnielle on the money.

And believe me, the money is what this is always about.

Anally massaged with a broomstick is way too good for union busters.

Man, that article is too much

> We're not sure what Unite the union wish to do for our employees.

> We were called in by the workers when they did not receive annualised payments for overtime.

Fucking lazy bastards! Wanting to get paid more for working longer!

i have to confess that i bought a bag of spicy thai with lunch after having my curiosity piqued by this thread. not as fuck you to all the well meaning people here, but because they sounded good.

sorry, that's how my stomach works. tell me your getting curry at 11am and i'm hunting for indian restaraunts by 1pm.

Rice pringles? I just looked and they are not available in the US. Why does the UK get fancy pants Pringles when WE invented them?! (Didn't we?)

I also saw "Light Sensations." Interesting.

The rice Pringles are good but I don't notice a huge amount of difference with the old Lites. I assume they've just replaced some of the potato flour with rice flour in the mix. But yeah, they're all seedy and super habit-forming and feeling bad about yrself in the morning.