Hostess Strike
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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In January, BCTGM President David B. Durkee sat down for a 2-part interview with Joshua Sosland of Milling & Baking News to speak from the Unionโ€™s perspective on the ongoing situation at Hostess. In part one of this interview, Sosland focuses on Durkeeโ€™s background and the philosophy of the Union. โ€œThe philosophy always was and remains, โ€˜Itโ€™s all about the members.โ€™ That was drilled through us every single day. โ€œAnd retired BCTGM President Frank Hurt, to the very...

02 April, 2013

BCTGM Local 218 member Mike Hummell, a Hostess/Wonder worker for 14 years, helps to tell the story of the Hostess bankruptcy through the eyes of dedicated Kansas bakers. โ€œYou've heard the Mainstream Media read you the Hostess PR sheet, now hear the truth from the mouths of the people who had their pension stolen. As the mainstream media distracted America with misinformation about Unions, the Hedge Funds got away with theft. They collected $4.25 an hour...

24 January, 2013

ย The following was published in the November/December 2012 Issue of the BCTGM News.ย  Once upon a time there was a company. It had happy workers and was profitable for years โ€“ an American icon, some would say. But that fairytale ended long ago. One fact is clear: when BCTGM members employed by Hostess Brands across the country began to strike or honor picket lines onย November 9, their fight was about more than disgruntled workers upset with the...

12 December, 2012

A federal bankruptcy judge has approved bonuses for executives of Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, who stay on as the company is broken up and sold off. On Thursday, as part of a plan to liquidate the company and lay off 18,000 workers, a federal judge in White Plains, N.Y., approved paying 19 Hostess executives bonuses totaling $1.8 million. Hostess has said it has interest from at least 110 firms who want to buy pieces of...

30 November, 2012

"There is this narrative that the union talked us into voting for it, and we are portrayed as a bunch of emotional children that can't make decisions. We knew what we were doing when we took concessions in 2005." Read the full TRUTHOUT interview with BCTGM Hostess worker Mike Hummel by Yana Kunichoff....

29 November, 2012

The following story was sent to us by a retired BCTGM Local 24 member. It is a true account of a dedicated bakery worker who grew up in and with Interstate Bakeries Corp. (IBC), in its various forms. Like his father before him, he spent his career working hard and supporting his family with good wages and the protection of a union contract. And like his father, he watched as the company was mismanaged and...

21 November, 2012

Today, 11/19/12, at 9:37 a.m. the BCTGM submitted the below document to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert D. Drain in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York, Hostess Brands Chapter 11 Case No. 12-22052 : JOINDER OF THE BAKERY, CONFECTIONERY, TOBACCO WORKERS AND GRAIN MILLERS INTERNATIONAL UNION IN OBJECTIONS TO DEBTORSโ€™ EMERGENCY WINDDOWN MOTION AND MOTION PURUSUANT TO SECTION 1113(e) OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE ย  Click here to dowloadย the 16-pageย PDF...

19 November, 2012

Written by Richard Trumka for the Daily Kos This is the new American story, but someone finally stood up and said, “Stop!” Pundits should be applauding the Bakery Workers of Hostess Brands for standing up to Wall Street interests and standing for decent working standards and the middle class. The truth is that the Bain-style vulture capitalists invested in Hostess to profit not by making quality products, but by bleeding the company of every dollar before discarding it. They’re...

18 November, 2012

Download the full press release. Download an updated fact sheet. The following statement was issued by BCTGM International Union President Frank Hurt in response to the announcement by Hostess Brands that it would begin liquidation.   โ€œHostessโ€™s announcement that it is liquidating the company is a deep disappointment for all of our Hostess members.ย  While Hostess management wants to blame our members for the demise of the company, the truth is that had it not been for the valiant...

18 November, 2012

More than 3,300 union members and activists fromย 125 countries have signed messages of solidarity sent through the IUF to the BCTGM members on strike against Hostess Brands. The IUF is an global federation of trade unions that represents workers employed in the agriculture, food and beverage and tobacco industries. The BCTGM is one of ย 336 trade unions from 120 countries that belong to the IUF, which represents more than 12 million workers. It is based in...

15 November, 2012

The following statement was issued by BCTGM International Union President Frank Hurt in response to claims by Hostess Brands that it would begin liquidation should union members not end the strike and return immediately to production facilities: “The crisis facing Hostess Brands is the result of nearly a decade of financial and operational mismanagement that resulted in two bankruptcies, mountains of debt, declining sales and lost market share.  The Wall Street investors who took over the...

15 November, 2012

In a desperate attempt to break the solidarity and resolve of striking BCTGM members across the country, Hostess Brands is falsely claiming that its decision to close three of its bakeries -- St. Louis, Cincinnati and Seattle -- is the result of the nationwide strike against the company by BCTGM members. In fact, according to the companyโ€™s 1113 filing with the bankruptcy court earlier this year as well as its last/best/final and non-negotiable proposal to its...

13 November, 2012

On Friday, November 9 BCTGM members employed by Hostess Brands across the country began to strike. These workers, many of whom have worked at Hostess and its predecessor companies for decades, are on strike in response to the companyโ€™s unilateral imposition of a horrendous contract that was rejected by 92 percent of BCTGM Hostess workers in September. NEW:November 16 Fact Sheet NEW: November 16 press statement from BCTGM International President Frank Hurt November 15ย press statement from BCTGM...

13 November, 2012