The AFL-CIO has compiled an extensive state-by-state list of resources for workers impacted by the pandemic. The website separates resources under the following categories: Emergency Paid Leave; Health Insurance; Housing and Food Assistance; and Wages and Benefits. Please click here to visit the site and share with anyone impacted by COVID-19. ...
Many BCTGM members have worked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to provide foods and snacks for North American families, while others have had hours reduced or had their plant temporarily closed. As states make plans for re-opening the economy, officials must remember that workers who have risked exposure to a deadly disease during this pandemic will never return to the same, old “normal”. The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), has released a report...
Congress is currently working on the next Coronavirus Emergency Relief legislation. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have pledged to include a comprehensive and effective multiemployer pension relief plan that will provide long-term solvency for pension plans, such as the B&C Plan, with no benefit cuts for beneficiaries. TAKE ACTION NOW! CALL 844-551-6921 Call your U.S. Senators today and tell them to include multiemployer pension relief in the next stimulus and recovery legislation! Democratic...
H.R. 6559 - The COVID-19 Every Worker Protection Act of 2020 would require OSHA to issue a standard to protect essential workers like BCTGM members - on the job during the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here to send a letter to Congress urging their immediate support for H.R. 6559: The COVID-19 Every Worker Protection Act of 2020. BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton sent this letter to the U.S. House of Representatives to urge passage of H.R....
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka sent this video to thank all BCTGM members for the work that you are doing to help America get through the COVID-19 crisis. https://www.facebook.com/BCTGM/videos/720403608791141/ ...
To the BCTGM members in Ohio and throughout America – Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) sends this special video on this Workers’ Memorial Day 2020. “Your work is essential. All work has dignity. We thank you, of course, but we need your workplace to be safe and we need your employers and the Trump administration to stand up and do that….and we need to get pandemic pay to all the hourly workers who are working so hard and putting...
This year, Workers Memorial Day is a bit different than in previous years. We are not gathered together in person at union halls, government buildings, worksites or memorials, but we are gathered together as a community to remember our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives, and to fight for safe workplaces and good jobs for all workers. At the forefront of this Workers Memorial Day is the COVID-19 pandemic—a major crisis for working...
The COVID-19 Every Worker Protection Act (H.R. 6559) would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard that establishes a legal obligation for all workplaces to implement comprehensive infectious disease exposure control plans to keep workers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the CDC issued guidance to protect workers, the guidance is not binding and OSHA currently has no enforceable standard to protect workers from airborne infectious diseases, leaving the...
Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka unveiled the safety conditions working people are demanding before the economy is reopened. “We must do what the federal government has refused to: protect America’s workers. We should not be focusing on when we can reopen the economy but rather on how we should reopen it to ensure the health and safety of working people.”- AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Safety First: Working People’s Plan for Reopening the Economy the Right Way: Workers...
For Local 334 members in Portland, Maine, job pride stems from adhering to a rich tradition of baking large pots of beans in brick ovens to provide Americans with a wholesome and much loved food: baked beans. Lately, that pride has swelled as workers have worked around the clock to meet the growing national demand for B&M brick-oven beans to fill the pantries of Americans who are staying at home during the Coronavirus quarantine. ...
BCTGM Local 6 (Philadelphia) members began baking bread again Easter weekend at the former Stroehmann Brothers Bakery in Hazelton, Pa. The bakery, owned by BIMBO BAKERIES USA, was closed last fall and was reopened to meet the increased demand for bread during the Coronavirus health crisis. Union members were recalled to begin production on April 10. Rosella DebiasDawn GillotScott Stauffer, Ed Bielen and Mike ScarlatoCindy WolcheskyChf. Steward John Tate Citing the importance of the health and safety...
As Congress and the federal government respond to COVID-19 and the economic crisis, the AFL-CIO is taking the lead with affiliate unions by advocating for the needs of working families. The labor movement is insisting that the next stimulus package include stronger workplace safety guidelines and more resources to protect front-line workers. The AFL-CIO is asking Congress for investments that will keep all workers employed and protect hard-earned pension benefits Provide funding for state and...
There has been a lot of confusion about how seniors, retirees, people with disabilities, and veterans will receive the coronavirus stimulus checks they deserve. Seniors 62 and older who receive Social Security retirement benefits, including those affected by the windfall elimination provision (WEP) and government pension offset (GPO), individuals who receive Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, and railroad retirees will automatically receive a stimulus payment. Payments will come automatically to your bank if you receive benefits via...
BCTGM Local 374G (Lancaster, Pa.) members are working hard to continue production of America's beloved Kellogg's cereals to help keep breakfast on the tables of Americans during the Coronavirus health crisis. Due to the COVID-19 national emergency, Kellogg's has increased production as well as its role in providing weekly donations to area food banks and community based youth and family organizations. L.374G members Cody Rakus and Jim Hockenberry.L.374G members Jim Hockenberry and Ron Laukhuff Cereals made...
On April 8, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) substantially weakened workplace protections for essential infrastructure workers – like BCTGM members – from COVID-19. The new CDC guidelines for businesses allows employers to require workers who have been exposed to COVID-19 to continue to work following exposure, provided they remain asymptomatic and some additional precautions are implemented. “This recommendation to put essential workers back to work after being exposed to COVID-19 is irresponsible and...