Mott’s Workers Take Picket Line to National Fruit in Virginia (7/14/10)

Members of RWDSU Local 220 on strike for nearly 8 weeks against Mott’s are taking their picket line to the National Fruit manufacturing plant in Winchester, Virginia, to protest Mott’s outsourcing and co-packing of applesauce due to slowed production in the Mott’s Williamson, New York, plant.  Strikers and union members will be leafleting National Fruit production workers about the ongoing labor dispute at Mott's.

Mott's strikers set up new picket lines in front of the National Fruit Product Company facility located at 701 Fairmont Avenue in Winchester, Virginia, this morning. National Fruit Product Company manufactures apple juices and sauces, apple rings, apple butter and vinegar products trading under the White House label.  National Fruit is a direct competitor of Mott’s.

“We always knew they couldn’t run efficiently without us, but now we have proof with the National Fruit co-packing,” said Stephanie Draper, a striking Line Technician at Mott’s in Williamson.

“They have a factory in Williamson, New York,  made for applesauce manufacturing, with hundreds of unskilled workers inside and yet they have to send Mott’s labels to their competitors to stick on other applesauce?  All we are asking for is to keep what we have, not to make great gains.  It seems like Dr Pepper is determined to make management choices that hurt their shareholders and undermine Mott’s quality,” added Bruce Beal, Label Operator at the Williamson plant.