09 Apr Workers at Hearthside Food Solutions File for Election to join BCTGM
On Friday April 5, 2024, workers employed at the Hearthside Food Solutions (“Hearthside”) bakery in London, Kentucky filed for an election to be represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM). The bakery in London, which produces baked goods for Kellogg’s, Nabisco and General Mills, employs approximately five hundred people.
The BCTGM international Union has also filed federal charges against Hearthside for multiple labor law violations committed during the organizing campaign in London and two other ongoing organizing campaigns in McComb, Ohio and Michigan City, Indiana.
The workers at the London bakery have been attempting to join the BCTGM for over a decade. In recent months, workers have been more vocal in their support for unionizing, especially as the company has taken away benefits and continued to treat its workers with disrespect.
The BCTGM International Union is calling upon Hearthside’s private equity owners, Partners Group and Charlesbank, to ensure that these workers receive a fair union election.
“Hearthside has a long history of union-busting and violating federal labor laws,” said BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton. “Partners Group and Charlesbank need to take action immediately and allow these workers to vote freely and fairly in their union election.”
Shelton stated that the BCTGM would do everything in its power to bring justice to the workers at Hearthside. “We expect that without employer interference, we will be welcoming Hearthside workers into the BCTGM family in the near future,” said Shelton.