Two shift supervisors from the Nabisco production floor walked out the front doors on their 2:15 PM break Tuesday, crossed the lawn, unfolded a card table beside Cat Clark’s chair, and did not go back in.
The supervisors, who brought a crockpot of chili, a bag of clementines and a printed copy of their insurance formulary, said they had been listening through the air-intake vents for nine days and had a question of their own.
“My doctor prescribed the shot in March,” said one, who asked to be identified only as a 22-year employee. “Insurance said I had to fail six months of a diet first. I’ve been failing diets since 1998. I asked the lady with the bullhorn if that counted.”
Clark reportedly put down the bullhorn for the first time since Sunday, opened a different binder, and walked both women through a seven-step prior authorization appeal while the chili came to temperature.
By 4:00 PM a third employee had arrived with a bag of tortilla chips and a sleeve of paper plates. By 5:00 PM the table had a second table.
“It’s not a protest,” one supervisor said, when asked whether she was striking. “It’s a potluck with a reading list.”
A company spokesperson said employees remained free to take breaks wherever they wished, that the lawn was not a sanctioned break area, and that the chili smelled “objectively good.”
