Local Union News
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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Jackie Tortura, AFL-CIO For the fourth time, locked-out American Crystal Sugar workers rejected an identical contract offer from the management company. The workers are members of theΒ Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM). American Crystal Sugar workers have gone 16 months without a contract.Β  Susan Sylvester, a Crookston, Minn., resident who has worked at the company for 37 years, told the Huffington Post: Our families, they’ve really suffered great hardship, especially the ones with little kids...

03 December, 2012

Β  [caption id="attachment_2463" align="alignleft" width="195" caption="Union Member and co-owner Sergio Flores has been a baker at Dianda's for more than 30 years."][/caption] Union bakers at San Francisco’s famous Dianda’s Italian-American Pastry Co. have been creating some of the city’s most loved cakes and pastries since the Mission district bakery opened its doors in 1962. What is the secret to their long success? Happy workers, time-honored recipes and loyal customers. This well-loved neighborhood bakery is renowned for its immense...

24 October, 2012

With the endorsement of theΒ AFL-CIO, working families throughout the country haveΒ launchedΒ a nationwide consumer boycott of American Crystal Sugar products in response to Crystal’s Sugar 14-month lockout of 1,300 BCTGM members.Β  The AFL-CIO noted that the boycott will be called off if the management of Crystal Sugar, which has denied its workers the opportunity to do their jobs, returns to the bargaining table in good faith and concludes a contract. Β  This consumer boycott is part of the...

16 October, 2012

Please take a moment to watchΒ this moving video of children of locked out workers that illustrates the unnecessary human cost of corporate greed. Β American Crystal Sugar and its increasingly well-paid CEO, Dave Berg thought record profits and skyrocketing CEO pay were not enough, and instead of expressing gratitude to their workers have instead denied them the chance to work to make a living. This video, shot at East Grand Forks, MN at the American Legion on...

10 October, 2012

On August 30, 2012, the BCTGM International Union and Local 218 (Kansas City, MO) won an organizing campaign at White Energy Gluten Mill in Russell, Kan. Gluten is one of the most critical ingredients in the manufacturing of most bakery and confectionery products. White Energy's customers include a number of BCTGM-represented baking and confectionery companies like Bimbo, Sara Lee, and Hershey. The workers in the newly organized unit produce wheat gluten. The facility also produces ethanol,...

30 August, 2012

AFL-CIO - Michael Frank headed over to a rally in East Grand Forks, Minn., last night, one of many he’s taken part in over the past year. Frank, along with 1,300 other workers, was locked out of the American Crystal Sugar factory a year ago, and last night’s event was part of the workers’ ongoing efforts to urge the sugar beet processing company return to the bargaining table. β€œThey don’t...

24 August, 2012

Kalamazoo, MI. – On June 28, 2012, three months after the majority of Bakers employed at Panera Bread CafΓ©s in the I-94 Corridor Division voted Union yes, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a federal complaint against the company.Β  After Panera Bakers voted yes to be represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union Local 70, both the company and the union filed unfair labor practice charges against one...

16 July, 2012

People are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of nutrition and how healthy pet foods can affect overall well-being of their pets.Β  So why not make sure pets are consuming union-made animal foods and treats? BCTGM members proudly produce pet products including Milk Bone and a wide variety of NestlΓ© Purina products. Milk Bone BCTGM Local 36G members in Buffalo, N.Y. produce all brands of Milk Bone products at the company’s only factory in Buffalo.Β  BCTGM made...

28 June, 2012

Kalamazoo, MI. – If you drive by a Panera Bread CafΓ© on any given morning, you will be treated with the decadent smell of freshly baking bread and sweet goods, thanks to the artful skills of Panera Bread bakers. These bakers work from 10:00 p.m. each night to 6:00 a.m. each morning making sure fresh bread, rolls, cakes and other baked goods are carefully molded and baked in time for the early morning CafΓ© opening....

23 March, 2012

From the Roquette corn milling facility in Keokuk, Iowa, to American Crystal Sugar in the Red River Valley of Minnesota and North Dakota and Cooper Tires in Findlay, Ohio, employers are turning to lockouts as a tactic to force union workers to accept major concessions when contract negotiations deadlock. For the BCTGM, the lockout of 1,300 workers at American Crystal Sugar is the most glaring example of the lengths to which employers will go to bust...

20 March, 2012

BCTGM Local 492 (Philadelphia) members take tremendous pride in Tasty Baking Company’s rich heritage and bright future. Tasty Baking products have been well known throughout the company’s nearly 100 year history for consistent taste, quality, and freshness. And in 2010, the BCTGM Union Label brought added quality to every product made at the company’s Philadelphia bakery. Β Β  Β In 1914, a Pittsburgh baker, Philip J. Baur, and a Boston egg salesman, Herbert T. Morris, went into business in...

12 March, 2012

The Best Selling Cookie of the 20th Century In 1898, several baking companies merged to form the National Biscuit Company (NaBisCo), and opened a large industrial bakery in New York City on Ninth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets at the Chelsea Market Building. By 1902, the company had its first nationwide success in Barnum’s Animal crackers, which were sold in boxes painted as animal cages. In 1912, Nabisco had an idea for a new cookie –...

06 March, 2012

Twin Cities Business magazine examines the lockout of 1,300 BCTGM members at American Crystal Sugar and the fate of the Farm Bill. "Despite escalating costs for all concerned, American Crystal Sugar is operating without 1,300 unionized factory workers locked out six months ago.Β  Upping the ante, the union threatens to pull support for the Farm Bill, which in turn could hurt the entire sugar industry." Click here to read/print the entire article....

05 March, 2012

Supporters Deliver Petition Signed by Tens of Thousands to Crystal Sugar Headquarters Fargo, NDβ€”Hundreds of union members, their families, and supporters rallied in Moorhead, MN, today to protest the lockout of some 1,300 workers by American Crystal Sugar Company (ACS). After the rally, a delegation of labor and community leaders delivered a petition signed by more than 33,000 people to the company’s headquarters. The petition calls on CEO David Berg to end the lockout and resume...

22 February, 2012