BCTGM Provides Union Made Goods for Puerto Rico Earthquake Relief
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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11 Feb BCTGM Provides Union Made Goods for Puerto Rico Earthquake Relief

Posted at 12:23h in Local Union News, Solidarity, Union Made by

Puerto Rico is suffering from a recent wave of high-magnitude earthquakes and hundreds of tremors that have rattled the island over the past month, leaving the people and infrastructure devastated once again.

On February 10, BCTGM Local 6 (Philadelphia) officers and members delivered 14,000 pounds of baked goods and snacks donated by union contracted companies Bimbo Bakeries USA and Keystone Foods to the Seafarers International Union (SIU) hall in Philadelphia. The union-made products were put into a shipping container at the union hall and transported to the port of Philadelphia where it was loaded onto a SIU-crewed tug/barge bound for San Juan. Once the barge arrives in port, delegates from the Puerto Rico Ports Council will offload and deliver to residents in need.

“As soon as we got word that the labor movement was sending aid to help the people of Puerto Rico, we wanted to help. Thanks to the generosity of Bimbo Bakeries and Keystone Foods, which have union bakeries here in the Philadelphia area, products made by hardworking BCTGM Local 6 members are on their way to help the folks in Puerto Rico.”

-BCTGM Local 6 President Hank McKay
BCTGM Local 6, together with representatives from BIMBO BAKERIES USA, transported 14,000 pounds of union made products to the Seafarers Union Hall in Philadelphia from BCTGM bakeries in Pa.

According to McKay, who led the Local 6 effort, the local rented a U-Haul van and picked up product at the union production facilities and transported it to Philadelphia. Phil Paturzo, Vice President of Labor Relations for Bimbo Bakeries USA , led the effort on behalf of the company which provided a second truck to transport baked goods to the union hall.

14,000 pounds of union made baked goods and snack products were delivered to the SIU Union hall in Philadelphia.

Dan Duncan, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Maritime Trades Department, AFL-CIO, reports that the Puerto Rico Ports Council is working with the local labor federation as well as a coalition of Seafarers, Teachers, Longshoremen, Teamsters, CWA, AFSCME, Laborers and other trade unionists to get the materials to residents as quickly as possible. Methods include union members using their personal pickup trucks to deliver goods to outlying areas.

“Working with good companies like BIMBO and Keystone to provide goods to the earthquake victims with our SIU union brothers in Philadelphia – who made the entire process seamless – has been just amazing. This is what labor solidarity looks like,” concludes McKay.

Pictured here left to right is BCTGM L. 6 President Hank McKay, Bimbo Bakeries USA Vice President Labor Relations Phil Paturzo and SIU Philadelphia Port Agent Joe Baselice.
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