Labor Artist Honors BCTGM Local 351 ‘Union T-Shirt Day’
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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16 Apr Labor Artist Honors BCTGM Local 351 ‘Union T-Shirt Day’

Posted at 15:16h in Art, Local Union News by

“As a lifelong Union activist myself, I have found much fulfillment in retelling the stories of social justice activism through my art,” says retired AFSCME Council 31 Local 3506 Member and Artist Activist Stephanie Weiner. “A lot of my art is about Union organizing in the Southwestern U.S., especially New Mexico.”

Weiner first learned of BCTGM Local 351’s (Albuquerque, N.M.) 2018 ‘Union T-Shirt Day’ from watching archived Union interviews at the University of New Mexico.

“Andrew’s interview was the first one I watched out of 75 videos in their catalog,” she explains of a conversation discovered with former Local 351 President/Business Agent Andrew Gutierrez, who is now a BCTGM International Representative for the Western Region. “It really resonated with me because of the way he choked up when retelling it. You could tell he had been involved in plenty of militant actions as a Union leader, but still felt like this was one of the highlights of his career.”

The story Gutierrez told in the interview was of Local 351’s contract negotiations with Bimbo Bakeries in 2018, in which Local 351 members almost had to strike.

“175 of us wore matching rattlesnake t-shirts on the plant floor during that last week of negotiations to signal that we were prepared to strike if provoked,” Gutierrez explains. “That was on Wednesday, and by Friday the company had made a respectable offer which was ratified effortlessly.”

Weiner was correct in perceiving this was a highlight of Gutierrez’s career. “It was my first or second year as the President/Business Agent of Local 351,” Gutierrez says. “Following that action, Local 351 became a real unit again and began moving as one with cohesion. The members really woke up to what is possible when we embody that UNION spirit—including me.”

Describing the artwork, Weiner reflects, “Andrew said he walked into the plant that day and encountered this sea of rattlesnake t-shirts as far as the eye could see. I loved the drama of that visual, and that’s what I really tried to capture in this piece.”

Weiner, who was a union English Language teacher for 32 years at City Colleges of Chicago, is no stranger to militant worker action. “I served as an executive board member for my Union, and on many negotiating and organizing committees over the years,” she says. “I was as active as you can get in the Union.”

In retirement, Weiner has embraced the life of an activist artist, exploring the current and historical stories of workers through her prints and selling them under the moniker Revolutionary Lemonade Stand.

Weiner created 26 prints of ‘Union T-Shirt Day’ to sell among her growing catalog. The first copy now hangs in the Union hall at Local 351, the second in Gutierrez’s office, and the rest are available for purchase on her website at revolutionarylemonadestand.com.

Western Region Int’l Rep. Andrew Gutierrez and girlfiend/CWA Local 7076 Member Amber Grau pose with the print.

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