While Tony the Tiger thinks Frosted Flakes are “grrr-eat,” hundreds of Kellogg’s factory workers think the company is “grrr-eedy”—and they’re using Tony to drive their point home.

On Oct. 5, when about 1,400 Kellogg’s workers across four US plants went on strike over payments and benefits, a poster featuring the iconic tiger appeared along the picket line in Battle Creek, Michigan. In front of Tony were the words “I’m greedy.” A digital poster by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union also features an angry Tony holding a”Kellogg’s on Strrr-ike” sign.

Eoin Treacy's view

Many workers feel like they did everything right during the pandemic and came out worse off than they went in. That belief was reinforced by millions of people making more on welfare and stimulus payments than from working. We are now seeing the results of those policies. Worker activism is trending higher.

Strikes at Kellogg’s, Kaiser Permanente in California, graduate employees at Ivy League universities, coal miners in Alabama, carpenters in Washington, Frontier Communications workers in California, transit workers in Texas and Ohio, public employees in Minnesota, dining workers at Northwestern University, home workers in Connecticut are all symptoms of upward pressure on wages.

The Atlanta Fed Wage Growth Tracker is at the upper side of a five-year range and looks likely to break on the upside. That alone should raise significant questions about the “inflation is transitory” argument.

At present investors are likely to give a greater weighting to the potential for further reopening on the back of COVID pills reaching market. That should help to supplement company earnings and support the stock market as the major indices test their respective trend means.

That also supports the view that opening up cyclical sectors will outperform the stay-at-home champions of 2020.