News for Stewards
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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More than 40 Local 358 (Richmond, Va.) stewards successfully completed a two-day steward training education conference in early February. The training was run by BCTGM International Research & Education Director Matthew Clark with assistance from Local 358 Financial Secretary/Business Agent Darlene Carpenter and President Keith Bragg. The two-day education conference focused on teaching the roles and responsibilities of union stewards by using role playing, small group activities and focusing on plant-specific challenges faced by stewards regularly. The...

03 March, 2022

The BCTGM International assisted Local 218 (Kansas City, Missouri) with a two-day steward training in Kansas City and Topeka, Kansas. The trainings were led by BCTGM International Research & Education Director Matthew Clark and BCTGM International Representative Jason Davis. The first day of training, held during a blinding snowstorm, included stewards from ADM (Cathage, Missouri), Graincraft (Wichita, Kansas), General Mills (Kansas City) and Bimbo Bakeries USA (Topeka). Two stewards participated via ZOOM video conferencing. The class included sessions...

03 March, 2022

Shop stewards from the Quaker Oats facility in Danville, Ill. met for a one-day educational conference on January 28. The group of 30 Local 347G (Danville, Ill.) members were a mix of seasoned and newly-elected stewards all eager to learn more about the duties and responsibilities of the job. The training was led by BCTGM Midwest Region Vice President Brad Schmidt and BCTGM Director of Research and Education Matthew Clark. The conference began with a segment on the history and...

30 January, 2020

The Congressional and White House attacks on worker rights and health and safety continue. On Wednesday March 1, 2017, the House of Representatives passed H.J. Res. 83, a Congressional Review Act Resolution of Disapproval, that would repeal an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule that clarifies an employerโ€™s responsibility to maintain accurate records of serious work-related injuries and illnesses. The Resolution passed 231-191, largely along party lines with the Republicans in support of doing away...

02 March, 2017

WHY ARE FOOD FLAVORINGS A PROBLEM FOR FOOD INDUSTRY WORKERS? Some chemicals may be present in food flavorings that can cause permanent lung damage when inhaled. This danger initially became public when federal investigators identified a serious lung disease in workers exposed to a chemical known as diacetyl, which is used in butter-flavored popcorn production. Workers are also at risk from airborne exposure to other flavoring chemicals used in various settings in the food industry, including...

26 October, 2016

Too many Latino workers face disease, major injury and death while laboring in dangerous jobs with inadequate safeguards. In 2014, 804 Latino workers died on the job, with 64% of these fatalities being Latino workers born outside of the United States. Latino worker deaths recentlyย have decreased even though more Latinos are working in the construction industry than ever before: Nearly 70% of new construction jobs between 2012 and 2015 were filled by Latino workers. The...

22 June, 2016

Obama may join other presidents who have tried and failed to contain industrial dust. OSHA was supposed to finish reviewing public comment on its proposed rule in June. โ€œIf OSHA is unable to get out a rule on silica, something with such strong scientific evidence and completely feasible controls, then we can pretty much eliminate the notion that OSHA can get out regulations on any kind of health standard,โ€ says former OSHA legislative analyst Celeste Monforton,...

07 September, 2015

The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) is committed to empowering union women.ย  Part of that commitment includes providing union women with important preventive health information. Taking that commitment to another level, CLUW recently released a short survey to aid in the development of a special online feature devoted to womenโ€™s health, with a particular focus on prevention. According to CLUW President Connie Leak, the survey is designed to help discover what digital media union women...

31 August, 2015

Every summer, the United Association of Labor Education (UALE) sponsors four regional โ€œwomenโ€™s schools.โ€ ย These residential programs typically last between 4-5 days and include classes and workshops on a variety of union-related topics. Women from all over the country and beyond learn the skills and knowledge needed to play leadership roles in their unions. ย One of the most valuable aspects of the schools is the chance to meet and network with union women from around the...

30 April, 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 Masterโ€™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

Californiaโ€™s Governor Jerry Brown has signed landmark legislation that will provide significant new protections for subcontracted employees. Under the new law, host employers and their staffing firms will have to jointly take responsibility for the health, safety, and basic workersโ€™ rights of temporary employees. This is a huge victory for California's most vulnerable workers, including immigrant workers who make up a large segment of the subcontracted workforce. It's a big win for the labor organizations, community...

28 September, 2014

According to a recently published study, as many as 90 percent of the employers participating in the annual U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) do not comply with OSHA recordkeeping regulations, resulting in underreporting of work-related injuries and illnesses by 38 percent of the surveyed employers Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for theย LexisNexis Workersโ€™ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of...

30 August, 2014

We have built a new section onto our website just for you โ€“ the BCTGM Stewards Corner. The job of a steward is one of the most challenging, most rewarding and most important jobs in our union. ย Thatโ€™s because union stewards are on the front lines of our fight to develop a strong, active union in the workplace. Stewards have an enormous impact on our membersโ€™ faith and belief in the union. The steward is the one...

22 August, 2013

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) Federal regulators have proposed $193,300 in fines for a Billings, Mont. sugar plant after inspectors discovered 17 health and safety violations. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Monday that The Western Sugar Cooperative has 15 days to contest the agency's findings. Among the alleged violations, 12 were considered serious enough to raise the probability of workers being killed or seriously injured. Those included inadequate fire exits, failure to provide railings...

29 July, 2013

NPR Nearly 180 people โ€” including 18 teenagers โ€” have been killed in grain-related entrapments at federally regulated facilities across 34 states since 1984, records show. Their employers were issued a total of $9.2 million in fines, though regulators later reduced the penalties overall by 59 percent. Click here to read about these incidents by state on NPR.com  ...

05 June, 2013