IL HR1105

Free trade agreements accounted for nearly 54% of Illinois goods exports in 2013, totaling approximately $35.7 billion, while the state lost more than 7,000 manufacturing jobs in 2015.

Mondelez International operates three manufacturing facilities in Illinois with nearly 3,000 employees and announced in July 2015 plans to move production lines from its Chicago bakery at 7300 S. Kedzie Avenue to a new facility in Salinas, Mexico, affecting approximately 600 of 1,200 jobs.

The Kedzie Avenue plant produces popular brands including Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies and Ritz and Premium crackers, and union workers there have produced high-quality baked goods for more than 50 years.

Illinois previously provided Nabisco (the former owner) with multi-million dollar tax incentive packages and tax increment financing district support in 1993 to modernize the plant.

The House urges Mondelez International to identify ways to invest in its Illinois plants and encourages the company and local unions to find ways to maintain jobs and engage with their communities.