Since June of 2010, I have communicated extensively in writing with your local unions regarding the very serious financial difficulties of your employer, Hostess Brands.  Many of my communications should have been posted on Union bulletin boards at your work location so that you were kept continually informed.  Additionally, we held a meeting in Washington, D.C. on February 25, 2012, for all Hostess production locals. Both I and Secretary-Treasurer/Director of Organization David Durkee, have personally spoken with every local union principal officer many times, in an effort to keep locals updated.

Prior to the 2004 Hostess bankruptcy, BCTGM members employed by Hostess gave extensive concessions to the company to ensure their financial success.  As we know, the value of your concessions was squandered by management and the numerous CEO’s who have controlled the fate of Hostess.

During 2011, I personally called Ripplewood Holdings (the private equity firm that held the majority equity value in Hostess and managed the company) and asked its top official if Hostess was experiencing financial problems.  The response from Ripplewood was absolutely not, finances of the company were perfectly fine. 

Within a few months, Hostess management began to demand huge concessions from BCTGM members — concessions so deep that I felt our members would go from being a part of the middle class to near poverty levels. The concessions also stated that Hostess could close six to ten bakeries; however, the company refuses to disclose which bakeries would be affected.

We engaged one of the top financial consultants in the country to review all of Hostess’ financial records so our Union could ascertain the true state of affairs and put the BCTGM in a position to negotiate responsibly, armed with the true facts.

Additionally, the BCTGM International retains one of the nation’s top bankruptcy law firms in an attempt to protect our members from the draconian bankruptcy laws that only serve to protect the banks, investors, corporations and management, but not America’s working families.

As you know, Hostess management unilaterally stopped payments to the B&C Pension Fund in July of 2011.  The company did this without discussions with the BCTGM International Union, the BCTGM Local Unions or the B&C Pension Fund.  The pension payments, which you earned, amount to approximately $4,000,000 per month. Hostess’ failure to remit these payments to the B&C Pension Fund has created measurable damage to the Pension Fund. 

The new Hostess CEO Greg Rayburn stated in a May 2, 2012 Q&A letter that, “We (Hostess) decided we simply want our union members to participate in financially sound pension plans as opposed to severely underfunded pension plans.”  Notice that Rayburn does not specifically mention the B&C Pension Fund. This is because the B&C Pension Fund was a financially sound, multiemployer pension plan (having a green rating, the highest financial rating possible under the Federal Pension Protection Act).  According to Rayburn’s own reasoning, Hostess should have continued in the B&C Pension Fund.

The BCTGM International Union was engaged in discussions for approximately six months, but no acceptable deal was consummated for your consideration prior to Hostess’ January 11, 2012 bankruptcy filing.

During six months of discussions, our Union demanded three things before we could consider any of the company’s concessionary proposals:  (1) an airtight successor clause so that if any assets were sold, union contracts would remain intact with the new owner; (2) BCTGM members employed by Hostess would receive something of economic substance in exchange for any concessions the company might grant, if the company would eventually return to financial health; and, (3) any deal that would eventually bring Hostess out of bankruptcy could not contain an unhealthy amount of debt, because too much debt would push Hostess into bankruptcy for a third time and would cause yet a third round of concessionary bargaining. Unfortunately, as of today, Hostess has failed to agree to any of these proposals, which are extremely vital to your employment future.

In all pre-bankruptcy and post bankruptcy discussions, the company representative repeatedly stated that the financial investors of Hostess, the management and the union and non-union workers would have to make shared sacrifices (concessions) if Hostess were to have a chance of coming out of bankruptcy. However, such statements were disingenuous.  The BCTGM was informed (via the Unsecured Creditor Committee) that the Hostess CEO was awarded a 300% raise (from approximately $750,000 to $2,550,000) prior to the January 11, 2012 bankruptcy filing. Additionally, at least nine additional top executives also received incredible raises ranging from 35% to 80%.  For example, one such executive received a pay increase from $500,000 to $900,000.  The chief negotiator for Hostess received a pay increase from $375,000 to $656,256. 

Federal law severely restricts “retention” bonuses that reward executives for staying with distressed companies.  Hostess’ own compensation consultant stated, “Hostess should tie payments to company performance…”  Hostess decided to “disregard” its consultant’s advice.  In an April 9, 2012 letter to workers, new CEO Rayburn stated that, “those raises were the product of an assessment by our compensation committee and an independent compensation consulting firm.”  As you may know, the former CEO and many of the executives, including the company’s chief negotiator, left Hostess after the salary increases were disclosed.  While claims have been made that executives are now working for $1 per year, Hostess has not shared its individual executive compensation contracts with our Union.

As most of you know, when Hostess filed for bankruptcy on January 11, 2012, it also filed to have union contracts abrogated via a bankruptcy code 1113 procedure.  The company’s strategy was to force a concessionary contract upon the members through the Bankruptcy Court.  Our bankruptcy law firm advised the BCTGM International that to participate in the trial portion of the 1113 procedure would cost the members millions of dollars and that in the end our Union would lose the trial, due to the imbalance in the present federal bankruptcy laws.  Rather than participate and become a victim of the 1113 trial, the BCTGM International decided the best strategy was to control the process, which we feel we have been very successful in doing thus far.  For example, the BCTGM has won a motion in court to exclude all Hostess contracts that had already expired prior to the Federal Bankruptcy Judge making a decision on Hostess’ request to abrogate your contract(s).  The battle in court to find out what exactly the Hostess Executives were doing with their pay was another significant step in discovering the true intentions of Hostess management.

Also, while the Federal Bankruptcy Court allowed our B&C Pension Fund to be representatives on the Unsecured Creditors Committee, they refused a seat for the BCTGM International Union. Our bankruptcy law firm has helped the BCTGM win a seat on this committee so we can represent our members properly throughout the process.

On April 18th, the Federal Bankruptcy Judge granted Hostess’ 1113 motion, however, he did not abrogate the BCTGM contracts; instead the Judge gave Hostess permission and the discretion to abrogate. If Hostess abrogates BCTGM contracts, we will be free to strike.

During the last several months, all of our BCTGM Local Unions with Hostess contracts have taken strike votes from the membership. Many have prepared picket line duty sheets, selected picket captains and prepared strike signs. Thirty-three BCTGM production bakeries have authorized a strike if needed.  I congratulate all of you on this effort!

I have listened very carefully to our members who work at Hostess and the consensus is that union members are not willing make concessions that gut BCTGM contracts or take away their voice in the workplace. Union members are not willing to give up pensions. They want the company to return all wages used to purchase additional pension to the members via wages; union members will not give up retiree health insurance (W-1 Plan(s) & P-Plans); union members will not pay more for health insurance for a lesser plan; nor will union members give up overtime or work week guarantees.

The vast majority of our members employed by Hostess has lost all faith in management and the company and do not believe the company has a viable future.  I have also been told that our members believe concessions from them will only be used to increase the value of Hostess so it can be sold to other parties that will load the company with debt, once again requiring future concessions.

If Hostess abrogates our contracts and our members are forced to take action, and Hostess goes off the market, we believe the production assets will be purchased by competitor companies. If a simple majority of the workforce is retained, the new employer is required by law to negotiate a first contract.  Many of our Hostess members feel this is a better option than agreeing to Hostess’ 1113 concessions.

The BCTGM International Union will continue to do it’s very best to represent members and attempt to negotiate a contract which is acceptable. 

Sincerely and fraternally,

Frank Hurt, International President

*Use the green PRINT button at the top of this page to print a PDF of this letter.

Job growth in April rose by 115,000, above the 100,000 needed to keep up with new job entrants. The unemployment rate improved a tad, from 8.2 percent in March to 8.1 percent in April, as did the number of jobless, which declined from 12.7 million in March to 12.5 million in April, according to U.S. Department of Labor data released this morning. Some 14.5 million workers remain unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work.

But as the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) points out, the one-tenth of a percent improvement in the nation’s unemployment rate is “due to people dropping out of the labor force, not an increase in the share of the working-age population with jobs. The labor force participation rate dropped to its low of the downturn, 63.6 percent.”

April’s job growth is the 26th consecutive monthly increase in private-sector jobs, but to replace the 9.9 million jobs lost since the start of the recesssion, many more jobs per month need to be created. As AFL-CIO Richard Trumka pointed out today, ”Republicans in Congress have blocked President Obama’s efforts to keep propelling growth, whether it’s the American Jobs Act or routine highway infrastructure investments,” even as Republicans push catastrophic budgets that threaten our economic security and break our promises to the next generation.”

“Pursuing tried and failed economic policies is the definition of crazy – and exactly what Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, John Boehner and others would do. Their austerity agenda concentrates wealth in the hands of a few, starves our nation of the funds needed to invest in our future, further deepens the wealth divide and chokes off any hope of a strong recovery.”

Jobs increased in several of the same areas as in recent months, including health care (19,000 jobs), food and drinking services (20,000) and manufacturing (16,000). Job growth declined in several industries as well, including transportation and warehousing (-17,000 jobs) and ground passenger transportation (-11,000).

Unemployment for African American workers, though still high, decreased from 12.3 percent in March to 10.8 percent in April, while the jobless rate for Latino workers remained at 10.3 percent. At 24.9 percent, teen unemployment barely budged in April from 25 percent in March.

Each day in 2010, 13 workers on average were killed on the job—some 4,690 workers—and an estimated 50,000 died from occupational diseases, according to the AFL-CIO’s annual report, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.” Released today, the report shows the number of those who died in 2010 (the most recent year for which data are available) is up from the 4,551 people who perished in 2009. This trend that has continued since 2004, the first year in a decade that saw the number of deaths on the job increase.

West Virginia, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota and North Dakota were among states with the highest workplace fatality rates, while New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island were states with the lowest rates. Latino workers, especially those born outside of the United States, continue to face higher rates of workplace fatalities—8 percent higher—than other workers.More than 3.8 million workers across all industries, including state and local government, experienced work-related injuries and illnesses in 2010, the most recent year for which there is data.

The report includes state-by-state profiles of workers’ safety and health and features state and national information on workplace fatalities, injuries, illnesses, the number and frequency of workplace inspections, penalties, funding, staffing and public employee coverage under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act). It also addresses delays in the standard-making process, ergonomic injuries, new and emerging hazards like pandemic flu and other infectious diseases.Noting that while “we have made great strides in making our workplaces safer,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said “too many women and men in this country and around the world continue to be hurt or killed on the job.

“The Obama administration has moved forward to strengthen protections with tougher enforcement, but business groups and Republican legislators have launched a major assault on regulations to protect people on the job. As we move forward to build an economy for our future, it’s important that we commit together to developing and issuing the kinds of rules critical to ensuring the safety of all working people.”

CLICK HERE to read the AFL-CIO’s 2012 “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.”

America must do better. That’s why working families across the country will come together to mourn the dead and injured and continue the struggle for good jobs that are safe and healthy for all workers.

This Saturday, April 28, is Workers’ Memorial Day. On this day, we remember the extraordinary sorrow that far too many families still suffer as a result of unsafe working conditions. It is also the 41^st anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and of an era when the basic right to a safe and healthful workplace became the law of the land.

Click here to find details about an event near you.

There is still a lot of  work to do to make sure workplaces are safe for all workers. In 2010, nearly 4,700 workers lost their lives on the job—and more than 50,000 died from occupational diseases.

But we have made real progress over the last four decades. Without working people and their unions coming together to demand action from employers and the government to improve workplace safety and protect communities, we would not have the Occupational Safety and Health Act and mine safety laws that provide the right to a safe job. We would not have stronger standards to protect workers from asbestos, benzene and other dangers. And communities wouldn’t have the right to know about toxic chemical hazards, or stronger laws and regulations to prevent chemical plants from exploding and endangering our communities.

The collective power of working people also can stop the erosion of workplace safety laws. Extreme politicians are pushing to erode workplace safety laws and to let some employers—like Massey Energy and BP—off the hook for cutting corners and violating the law to help their bottom line. But we won’t let it happen. Not on our watch.

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today issued the following statement on the observance of Workers’ Memorial Day:

 “Tomorrow, April 28, is Workers’ Memorial Day, an occasion for reflection and remembrance of the thousands of workers who needlessly have suffered fatal injuries on the job every year. We also think of those workers who have been seriously injured or sickened as a result of preventable workplace hazards.

 “We are never prepared to say goodbye to the people we love, but we are even less so when we send our loved ones off for a day’s work. It is our duty to ensure that all workers come home safely at the end of each workday, and we stand behind our firm conviction that workplace injuries and fatalities are entirely preventable.

 “On this day, I urge all Americans to raise their voices in support of workers’ right to a safe and healthful workplace. In the 41 years since the Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted, we have made tremendous progress, but our steadfast mission to make every job in America a safe job must continue. One workplace death is too many.

 “Making a living shouldn’t include dying.”   

On this Workers Memorial Day, let’s not only remember those who lost their lives in the past year, but commit to come together to make jobs safer to save lives and protect communities.

Please participate in an upcoming Workers Memorial Day event near you to stand with other working families in the struggle to make safe workplaces for all workers a reality.

“Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. has a responsibility to protect workers conducting welding operations from known hazards in its manufacturing plants, including explosive dust,” said Karl Armstrong, director of OSHA’s Fairview Heights Area Office. “OSHA is committed to protecting workers on the job, especially when employers fail to do so.”

At the time of the incident, the two maintenance workers were repairing a hole in the side of a metal trough containing a screw conveyor that was leaking granulated sugar within several feet of an operational dust collector. The dust collector exploded due to a spark from the welding operations.

The three willful violations include failing to eliminate dust deflagration and explosion hazards on indoor dust collectors and air material separators, contain dust during the bagging of powdered sugar, shut down ducts and conveyor systems during welding operations (which had been responsible for carrying a spark to the nearby dust collector), and ensure that electrical equipment installed in areas exposed to combustible dust was approved and safe for those locations. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements or plain indifference to employee safety and health.

Three serious violations include failing to inspect areas where welding was to be performed, prohibit welding in the presence of explosive atmospheres and ensure the safe use of welding processes in the presence of combustible dust. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

Due to the willful violations, OSHA has placed Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which mandates targeted follow-up inspections to ensure compliance with the law. The program focuses on recalcitrant employers that endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. For more information about the program, visit http://s.dol.gov/J3.

Prior to this inspection, the food manufacturer had been inspected by OSHA 30 times since 2002, resulting in citations for 46 violations, some involving combustible dust explosion, deflagration and other fire hazards cited at the company’s Steeleville and Momence plants in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. is headquartered in Chester. The company employs more than 2,000 workers at 12 facilities located in Chester, Steeleville, Momence and Centralia, Ill.; Joplin, Jasper, Perryville and McBride, Mo., and Wilson, Ark.

The citations can be viewed at: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/GilserMaryLeeCorporation_107443_04062012.pdf*.

Proposed penalties total $231,000. The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Fairview Heights office at 618-632-8612.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

In announcing the Board’s decision, BCTGM International Union President Frank Hurt explained, “After assessing the positions of the Republican candidates for President on the issues that matter most to our members and their families, and comparing them with those of President Obama, our Board spoke loudly and clearly. 

“Each of the Republican candidates for President has lined up squarely behind the policies of the Republican House leadership; policies that benefit only the wealthiest among us, multinational corporate bosses and Wall Street titans.  These policies would erode the standard of living of working families and jeopardize the future for our children and grandchildren.

“Moreover, the Republican presidential candidates have thoroughly embraced policies specifically designed to weaken organized labor and undermine the rights of workers in the workplace.”

Hurt added, “The BCTGM is proud to endorse President Obama.  Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama has displayed extraordinary leadership, vision, courage and determination to do what is best for our nation and all of its citizens, not just the privileged few.

“The BCTGM intends to engage our members and their families fully in this critical campaign for the future of our great nation.  There is far too much at stake for anything less than the very best effort we can muster.”

Who says economic policy has to be wonkish and dry?  Not John Schmitt, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).  He gets right to the point in his new report, “The Minimum Wage Is Too Damn Low.”

The minimum wage was last increased—to $7.25 an hour—nearly three years ago.  He writes that the minimum wage is now far below its historical level by all of the most commonly used benchmarks—inflation, average wages and productivity.  If it kept pace with the Consumer Price Index, today’s minimum wage would be $10.52 an hour.

Click here for the full report.

In another recent report, CEPR showed that the costs of family health insurance and college tuition for minimum wage workers are incredibly out of reach.  Click here.

When the 18 bakers, who are employed by the Bread of Life Franchise which owns all Panera locations along the I-94 corridor of Southwest Michigan, decided they had enough of being improperly compensated as skilled bakers, they reached out to Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) through the union’s website, BCTGM.org. The Panera bakers were concerned with inadequate medical insurance, insufficient time off, unsafe working conditions and improvements to the bakeries that were being ignored by management. When 90 percent of the Panera bakers signed union cards, they approached management and requested recognition as a union.

No Money for Bakers but plenty for Union Busting 

Rather than honoring their skilled bakers by recognizing them as a union, the owners of the Michigan Panera franchise, Bread of Life (a franchise of Panera Bread owned by Manna Development located in Encinitas, Calif.), hired a law-firm to delay a union vote by claiming the I-94 Division was not an appropriate unit. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled these bakers were indeed an appropriate unit and directed a secret ballot election be held on Thursday, March 22, 2012.

Bread of Life/Panera Bread also hired one of the largest known Union Busting Consulting firms to fight its own employees. “I felt like we were Prisoners of Panera, rather than Bakers of Panera,” one of the Panera bakers told BCTGM International Representative John Price. “They would work us all night and then force us to attend mandatory captive audience meetings in the morning.”  Another Panera baker recalls, “They would keep us sleep deprived, hungry and then cram us with anti-union Panera propaganda.” 

The workers held together through eight weeks of threats, intimidation and other tactics used by management in an attempt to pressure the workers to vote against the union.

Following the NLRB election on Thursday morning, which had voting at each of the six Panera café locations in Southwestern Michigan, the NLRB Agents counted the ballots and announced the bakers had won by a two-to-one margin to be represented by the BCTGM.

Follow this story on Twitter: #paneraunionyes