Labor Day is the unofficial end of the summer holiday season. While the day honors the hardworking men and women who make this nation go and grow, the weekend also gives us a chance for one more big backyard barbecue blowout. Here are some BCTGM-made goods to get your barbecue off to a great start. The products listed here are just some of the BCTGM-made products and is not inclusive of every BCTGM local or union-made product....
Shown below is the full text of a letter International President David Durkee sent to Presidentย Obama concerning the July 29 announcement byย Mondelฤz International that it intends to moveย hundreds of union production jobs from the historicย BCTGM-represented Chicago Nabisco Bakery to the companyโsย low-wage facility in Mexico. This contemptible move by thisย greedy multi-national company epitomizes all that is wrong withย corporate America and U.S. trade policy. (Click on either image below to download a PDF.) *This letter was also published in...
On Monday, August 24, NPR Chicago broadcast a special story detailing the recent announcement by Mondelฤzย International thatย it isย shipping 600 union jobs โ half the plantโs workforce โ to Mexico. The program includes interviews with BCTGM Local 300 members at the Chicago Bakery. The report also includes information on how the city worked withย Mondelฤzย the last time the companyย threatened to move production outside of the U.S. by providingย $300 million in tax breaks to completeย infrastructure work at...
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...
On Friday, August 14, more than 100 union members, family members and community supporters of BCTGM Local 100G members gathered for an informational picket and rally outside the Ingredion plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The collective bargaining agreement covering approximately 160 union members at the plant expired on August 1. During contract negotiations, Ingredion negotiators proposed more than 120 concessionary changes to the collective bargaining agreement. The BCTGM has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges with the...
Cedar Rapids, Iowa โ Members of ย BCTGM Local 100G continue their fight for a fair new contract with Ingredion, Inc., the Westchester, Ill.-based company that purchased the Penford Products facility this spring. The collective bargaining agreement covering approximately 160 union members at the plant expired on August 1. The BCTGM has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 18 Office in Des Moines regarding the companyโs unethical behavior before and...
Kensington, MD โ More than BCTGM 1,300 members at four Kellogg cereal plants voted to ratify a new five-year Master Contract to replace the one set to expire on October 3, 2015. The locations of the plants included under the new Agreement are Lancaster, Pa. (374G), Battle Creek, Mich. (Local 3G), Omaha, Neb. (50G), and Memphis, Tenn. (252G). The five-year deal includes a five-year moratorium on plant closings, solid wage and pension increases and maintenance of...
Cedar Rapids, Iowa โย When Ingredion Inc., headquartered in West Chester, Ill., purchased the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Penford Products plant this spring, company officials said that for the immediate future, there would not be drastic changes. However, contentious negotiations that began June 1, 2015 continue between company officials and representatives of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union (BCTGM) Local 100G (Cedar Rapids) for a successor Agreement covering workers at the plant. The present collective bargaining...
The BCTGM International was informed today by Mondelฤz 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, Mondelฤz 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...
Pictured here after the final votes were counted is (from left, front row) Intl. Rep. David Woods, Randy Williams, George Key, Tony Sanders, L. 42 Bus. Agt. Zach Townsend and L. 149 Pres./GEB member Letitia Malone, (from left, back row) Vanessa Corbitt, Allan Wright, Joseph Dickens and Phyllis Dickens. It was the unwavering strength and courage of 80 workers at a peanut shelling plant in Alabama that prevailed in their fight for dignity and respect through...
Chicago, Ill. โ BCTGM representatives met today with local and international representatives of Mondelฤz International, Inc. to discuss investment plans related to the companyโs Chicago bakery located at 7300 South Kedzie Avenue. Mondelฤz essentially told the BCTGM that the workers had to come up with $46 million in annual savings at the Chicago facility for the company, or it would take the $130 million planned investment to its Salinas, Mexico bakery. And, even with the $46...
Republican leaders in Congress and the Obama Administration have declared that trade is a potential area of compromise this year and working people should be concerned. ย New trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are being negotiated in the same failed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) model. The negotiations are focused on padding corporate profits not increasing workersโ paychecks. Before any trade deal comes to a vote, the administration will ask Congress to pass...
โSenator Elizabeth Warren recently gave a speech where she made her case for electing women Democrats to Congress saying, โIf you donโt have a seat at the table, youโre probably on the menu.โ And this is something Iโve started telling workers in organizing campaigns.โ โ John Price, BCTGM Internationalย Director of Organization [caption id="attachment_4789" align="alignright" width="288" caption="Workers at the Penford Foods plant in Seattle became fed up with the companyโs elimination of benefits and contacted the BCTGM. They...
As BCTGM members and their families welcome a New Year, we can look back at 2014 as a source of great pride and optimism for our Union. ย While the BCTGM and our members certainly faced serious and difficult challenges on many fronts, we are heading into the New Year as a stronger, battle-tested Union, fully prepared to take whatever action is necessary to improve the lives of our members and bring the benefits of BCTGM...
Today, workers at the Bimbo Bakeries USA high performance facility in Elkhart, Indiana voted to become members of BCTGM Local 1 (Chicago). This is the fourth Bimbo high performance workplace the Union has organized in the last 22 months. In 2010, Bimbo Bakeries USA announced it would invest one billion dollars into upgrading and building new high performance bakeries in the United States.ย Bimbo built four brand new high performance bakeries in Rockwall, Texas; Lehigh Valley,...