[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 108 (Wednesday, June 27, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H5752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PROTECT AMERICA'S BAKERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to stand up for New Jersey 
jobs and New Jersey workers who are the best in the world. In Fair 
Lawn, New Jersey, the men and women at Mondelez bake top-quality 
products like Oreos, Teddy Grahams, Ritz Crackers, Chips Ahoy, and 
Barnum's Animal Crackers.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans who enjoy Oreos or animal crackers would be 
proud to know that these delicious cookies and crackers are produced 
right here in America. However, I believe they would be shocked to hear 
about some of the recent practices of the company that threaten these 
employees' retirement and will outsource their U.S. production jobs to 
Mexico, an issue that Democrats and Republicans alike are rightly 
sounding the alarm about.
  In the past month, Mondelez announced its intention to withdraw from 
its employees' retirement plan that the company participated in for 60 
years, setting the stage for a retirement catastrophe that could impact 
more than 100,000 American workers.
  The men and women I represent have worked hard and played by the 
rules their whole lives, responsibly planning for their retirements, 
taking care of their families, doing what they need to do. Mondelez 
can't just change the rules mid-game as people prepare for their 
retirements.

  Mr. Speaker, America's seniors deserve security when they retire, and 
our workers deserve nothing but the best. Destroying retirement income, 
shipping jobs overseas to low-wage countries, and eroding the middle 
class sets us on a dangerous and unsustainable path.
  I stand with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers & Grain 
Millers Local 719 in Fair Lawn and America's jobs. And I hope that 
Mondelez can sit down at the table and find a way to keep their 
commitments to New Jersey workers while continuing to make a great 
product in the United States of America and in New Jersey in the 
district that I represent.

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