General Mills Evades Strike as Quaker Oats Ratifies Labor Deal

More than 500 workers at a General Mills factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, averted a strike with a tentative agreement Nov. 8 while across town nearly 700 employees at a PepsiCo Inc.-owned Quaker Oats processing plant ratified a four-year contract.

The workers handle production at both plants as well as maintenance at General Mills Inc. They’re all represented by the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union—a New York-based offshoot of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

The two developments are a show of union force in a “right-to-work” state that prohibits mandatory union membership. The General Mills ...