Corporate Greed
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
bctgm, bakers union, tobacco union, candy union, food workers, food workers union, grain millers, grain millers union, mondelez, nabisco, snack union,
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Shown below is the full text of a letter International President David Durkee sent to President Obama concerning the July 29 announcement by Mondelēz International that it intends to move hundreds of union production jobs from the historic BCTGM-represented Chicago Nabisco Bakery to the company’s low-wage facility in Mexico. This contemptible move by this greedy multi-national company epitomizes all that is wrong with corporate America and U.S. trade policy. (Click on either image below to download a PDF.)   *This letter was also published in...

01 September, 2015

After two days of meetings, contract negotiations between Ingredion Inc. and representatives of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 100G have been suspended until early September. The collective bargaining agreement covering approximately 160 union members at the plant expired on August 1. Workers at the plant continue to work under the terms of the expired pact while Union negotiators attempt to reach a fair new contract with Westchester, Ill.-based Ingredion, which purchased the...

24 August, 2015

BCTGM International President David Durkee and International Secretary Treasurer Steve Bertelli, together with locked out Local 252G Kellogg workers and AFL-CIO representatives, attended the  Kellogg Company shareholder meeting today in Battle Creek, Mich. The AFL-CIO presented Proposal 5 to the shareholders. The proposal, put forward by Brandon Rees of the AFL-CIO Office of Investment, would require the Kellogg Company to submit a "human rights risk assessment". President Durkee delivered a statement to the shareholders in support of...

25 April, 2014

BCTGM members from five states and Canada descended upon  the Kellogg Company annual shareholders meeting Battle Creek, Mich. to protest the company's illegal lockout of more than 220 Local 252G Memphis, Tenn. cereal workers. Hundreds of union members, labor leaders, and community activists joined the BCTGM outside the W.K. Kellogg Auditorium for a rally.  Locked out 252G members, who traveled to Battle Creek to take place in the shareholders meeting and planned events, were introduced by...

25 April, 2014

I remained hopeful that this situation would resolve soon for many days, but as these days turned to weeks, and these weeks to months, I am starting to wonder why nobody is listening to my plea. It hurts to be ignored. —Kara Butterfield, 15, daughter of Jeff Butterfield, Local 252G locked out Kellogg worker This morning outside the W.K. Kellogg Foundation headquarters in Battle Creek, Mich., BCTGM Local 252G members illegally locked out by Kellogg in Memphis,...

24 April, 2014

According to the 2014 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch, released April 15, it’s 331 times better to be a CEO than an average worker. All you need to do is ask BCTGM Local 252G President Kevin Bradshaw, who along with more than 220 other union workers, has been locked out of the Kellogg cereal plant in Memphis, Tenn. since last October. And while the locked union members have not received a paycheck since the illegal lockout began on October 22,...

21 April, 2014

A series of videos were launched today to tell the story of the actions Kellogg is taking against its workers around the globe. While the CEO of The Kellogg Company, John Bryant, gets a pay raise of $8 million and investors get rich with increasing dividend payments and share buybacks, thousands of Kellogg employees and the communities they live in are left devastated and angry.  And while the $14 billion global snack food giant prides itself...

18 March, 2014

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has joined the growing number of national and international organizations urging the Kellogg Company to end its four-month old lockout of more than 220 BCTGM Local 252G members at its Memphis, Tenn. plant. In the letter to Kellogg’s CEO John Bryant, CBC Chair Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio), writes: “Many of the affected workers are second and third generation employees from predominately minority communities, averaging more than 20 years of service to...

04 March, 2014

“Continuing the Memphis lockout is not in the best interests of Kellogg or its shareholders. Accordingly, I urge the Board of Directors to intervene with management to end the Memphis lockout and return to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair contract.” On January 8th,  President David Durkee wrote a letter to Kellogg Co. Lead Director Gordon Gund and the entire Kellogg Co. Board of Directors.  Click here or on the image below to read the...

10 January, 2014

"There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all out kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us."   -- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol As the children of locked out members of...

18 December, 2013

(This is a re-post from the AFL-CIO's Live Convention BLOG) Bankruptcy laws are rigged against working people. Employers, corporations and lenders often exploit these laws to weaken our retirement security, cut health care and leave young workers saddled with student loan debt, without the prospect of a good job or the ability to discharge the debt through bankruptcy. Look no further than the coal giants Peabody Energy and Arch Coal, which created Patriot Coal to shed their obligations...

10 September, 2013

[caption id="attachment_3473" align="alignleft" width="553" caption="BCTGM Intl. Pres. David Durkee (pictured far right) marches with L. 1 officers to protest ALEC's 40th Anniversary Meeting in Chicago. "][/caption] BCTGM International President David Durkee joined with members of BCTGM Local 1, the Chicago Federation of Labor and various allies at a rally to protest the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC's) 40th Anniversary Meeting in Chicago. ALEC is leading conservative efforts to roll back the rights of working families. From the Chicago...

08 August, 2013

KALAMAZOO (WKZO) -- Union members gathered to protest outside the Panera Bread location on West Main in Kalamazoo Friday. Many Panera workers in Michigan voted over a year ago to form a collective bargaining unit as a part of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, but Battle Creek Panera baker Kathleen Von Eitzen says the franchise owner is refusing to recognize them. Former employee Kyle Schilling says he was fired after refusing to...

21 June, 2013

The Panera baker’s story affects everyone in America who cares about their right to stand up for themselves at work: More than a year since they voted to form a union, Panera workers in Michigan are still waiting. The franchisee that owns the Panera Bread stores in the region refused to recognize the BCTGM as the official representative of the bakers and refused to meet to bargain a first contract.  The NLRB found that Panera broke...

19 June, 2013

Prime Example of Why the Senate Must Confirm Obama’s Board Nominees  This is how hope turns into despair. More than a year since they voted to form a union, Panera workers in Michigan are still waiting. The franchisee that owns the Panera Bread stores in the region refused to recognize the BCTGM as the official representative of the bakers and refused to meet to bargain a first contract.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that Panera broke the...

13 June, 2013