International News
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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On November 5, BCTGM Local Unions representing Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU) facilities in the Southern and Midwest Regions reached agreement on a “pattern” settlement impacting thousands of workers in the bread and cake sector. The new five-year agreement was overwhelmingly ratified by Local 65 (Oklahoma City, Okla.) members at the BBU bakery in Oklahoma City, officially setting it as the wholesale pattern for the industry. Due to the pandemic, only the negotiating committee met in person...

03 December, 2020

No one had to worry about social distancing, shaking hands or meeting face-to-face for the recent meeting of IUF union affiliates with members employed by Philip Morris International (PMI) . Instead of meeting as planned in Poland, BCTGM representatives together with other IUF affiliate unions representing workers in tobacco growing, manufacturing, sales and marketing in Europe and the Americas joined together for a zoom video conference. BCTGM International Secretary-Treasurer David Woods, Assistant to the International President...

21 October, 2020

The BCTGM was among a delegation representing the IUF to deliver letters of protest to the Myanamar Embassy in Washington D.C. demanding the release of six hotel workers jailed for union activity in Myanamar. On March 1, the chairman and five other leaders and members of the union of workers at the Hotel Tharabar Gate in Myanamar's Bagan Archeological Zone were convicted of attempting to hold a peaceful protest march after police brutally destroyed the union's...

14 March, 2019

On April 17, 2018 at Cargill-Turkey in Bursa-Orhangazi, 14 union activists were unfairly dismissed from their jobs on while organizing a union. This is not the first time Cargill management in Turkey has fired workers for attempting to exercise their rights. In 2015, a court ruled that workers were unfairly dismissed for trying to organize a union at the same plant. Turkey's legal system, however, offers an escape route: as an alternative to reinstating workers who...

06 February, 2019

(This is a cross post originally published by the IUF) Led by the IUF, unions representing Coca-Cola workers around the world held a spirited demonstration on September 13 outside a Coca-Cola Company-sponsored conference on business and human rights at the company's global headquarters in Atlanta. Representatives from the BCTGM International Union and Local 42 (Atlanta) participated in the protest. [caption id="attachment_7043" align="alignright" width="320"] BCTGM Southern Reg. VP Anthony Shelton, Intl. Rep. Zach Townsend, IUF's Ron Oswald and IUF...

14 September, 2018

There can be no fair and equal workplaces if there is violence. Yet there is still no law at the international level that sets a baseline for taking action to eradicate violence and harassment in the workplace.  According to the International Labour Conference (ILC), gender-based violence remains one of the most common and tolerated human rights abuses.  According to statistics, 35% of women - 818 million women globally - over the age of 15 have experienced...

08 March, 2018

As noted prominently by the United Nations, violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today. Gender inequality persists worldwide. Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will require more vigorous efforts, including legal frameworks, to counter deeply rooted gender-based discrimination that often results from patriarchal attitudes and related social norms, as stated by the UN Secretary-General, in his latest report on...

25 November, 2017

Today, IUF President Hans-Olof Nilsson opened the 27th IUF World Congress in Geneva, Switzerland. BCTGM International delegates to the Congress include BCTGM International President David Durkee, International Secretary-Treasurer Steve Bertelli, Assistant to the International President Harry Kaiser and Local 53 President and BCTGM International General Executive Board member Joyce Alston. The week began with IUF Women, Young Workers and LGBTI Conferences. It was the first time the IUF has held a Young Workers Conference before the opening of...

29 August, 2017

The BCTGM is among the IUF member unions around the world that will be engaging in a week of global trade union action this week, March 27-31, to signal our collective commitment to defending quality permanent employment against the destructive short-termism which is driving management at Mondelēz. In addition to the Nabisco brand in North America,  Mondelēz also owns the Cadbury, Milka, Toblerone, Cote d'Or, belVita, LU, Trident, TUC, Halls,  Tang and other world renowned brands. Unions in the...

27 March, 2017

International Union of Food Workers Announces Solidarity in Support of United Effort to Protect Worker Rights KENSINGTON, Md., January 7, 2015 –The International Union of Food Workers (IUF) and its affiliates, representing 2.5 million workers in 126 countries, have affirmed their solidarity with Mondelēz International workers across the globe. IUF affiliates represent the vast majority of Mondelēz manufacturing employees in over 30 countries from Alexandria, Egypt to Chicago, Illinois; and since 1920, the organization has been...

07 January, 2016

The BCTGM International was informed today by Mondelēz that the company had chosen to spend $130 million in new investment at its Salinas, Mexico plant, rather than at the historic Chicago facility, represented by BCTGM Local 300. As part of this investment, Mondelēz will install four new lines at its Mexico plant, replacing nine production lines at its historic Chicago facility, where approximately 1,000 workers are represented by BCTGM Local 300. The Chicago plant, which dates to...

29 July, 2015

The BCTGM is among 60 unions within and outside of the AFL-CIO that collectively signed a letter to Congress expressing opposition to Fast Track authority, which is used to advance unfair trade deals. The letter, which can be viewed by clicking here, demonstrates the unity between workers who have jobs that are directly impacted by bad trade deals, and those whose jobs are indirectly affected. "The BCTGM and our members know firsthand the hardship that results when multinational...

03 March, 2015

After 34 years with the International Union, Ray Scannell, the Director of the BCTGM International Union Research & Education Department, will retire on November 1. Scannell came to the BCTGM not long after graduating with a Master’s degree in organizational behavior from the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. His first position at the Union was staff assistant in the Department of Research & Education. [caption id="attachment_4686" align="alignright"...

01 November, 2014

AFL-CIO Brandon Rees, acting director of the AFL-CIO Office of Investment, sends this report from today’s shareholder meeting of Mondelēz International (formerly Kraft Foods) near Chicago. At today’s Mondelēz International's shareholder meeting, the IUF, the international union body representing food workers worldwide, and unions representing the company’s North American employees, raised concerns about human rights abuses in the company’s overseas operations. Many Mondelēz-branded cookies and crackers are produced by union members, including Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz and Triscuit. In...

21 May, 2013

  As we begin the new year, the immediate challenges that lie ahead for the BCTGM are as daunting as any this Union has faced in its long and proud history. Many employers in our industries are pursuing a destructive strategy of "my way or the highway" in their relationship with our Union. Tragically, the 1,300 BCTGM members at American Crystal Sugar remain locked out of the jobs they want to return to; jobs they so ably...

08 March, 2012