Organizing
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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For Immediate Release: September 19, 2024Contact: Lisa Gregory, BCTGM International Representative, (301) 335-3722 Print this (PDF) London, Ky. โ€” Eleven-year employee Ben Nolan of the Hearthside Food Solutions (HFS) bakery in London, Ky. has been illegally fired from his job for activities related to organizing a Union. Hearthside is owned by two private equity companies, Partners Group and Charlesbank. Nolan was unjustly targeted by management at the bakery when he emerged as a leader in an April 2024 Union...

19 September, 2024

On Tuesday, August 27, 2024, 22 maintenance unit workers employed at Hearthside Food Solutions (โ€œHearthsideโ€) in Michigan City, Ind. filed for an election to be represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM). The workers at the Michigan City bakery have developed their organizing campaign in solidarity with two other Hearthside facilities in McComb, Ohio and London, Ky. In recent months, the maintenance unit workers in Michigan City grew more assured...

04 September, 2024

Due to a relentless anti-union campaign waged by Hearthside Foods, 600 workers at the London, Kentucky bakery have lost their Union election. The 304-222 loss coincided with eleven more unfair labor practice (ULP) charges filed on Sunday, May 5th, adding to the nine already documented during the campaign. โ€œThese newest charges are all related to the constant surveillance and intimidation the workers faced. The company issued really outrageous threats of losing their jobsโ€”even deportationโ€”and ย several workers...

09 May, 2024

On Friday April 5, 2024, workers employed at the Hearthside Food Solutions (โ€œHearthsideโ€) bakery in London, Kentucky filed for an election to be represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM).  The bakery in London, which produces baked goods for Kelloggโ€™s, Nabisco and General Mills, employs approximately five hundred people. The BCTGM international Union has also filed federal charges against Hearthside for multiple labor law violations committed during the organizing campaign...

09 April, 2024

The National Labor Relations Board found merit in the BCTGM's charges that Aspire Bakeries committed numerous labor law violations during an organizing campaign at the companyโ€™s Ontario, California bakery. As a result, the Labor Board has ordered a new union election for workers at Aspire. Not long after workers at the bakery approached BCTGM Local 37 (Los Angeles) organizers about joining the BCTGM, the company hired a high-priced union busting firm to put a stop to...

12 June, 2023

Lindsay-Goldberg Owned Company Charged with Violating Federal Labor Law BCTGM Local 37 (Los Angeles), has filed federal charges against Aspire Bakeries, for multiple labor law violations committed during an organizing campaign at the companyโ€™s Ontario, California bakery.Aspire Bakeries, producer of Otis Spunkmeyer, La Brea Bakery and Oakrun Farm Bakery brands, is owned by the $17 billion private-equity firm Lindsay-Goldberg, which acquired Aspire in 2021 for $850 million.Soon after workers at the Ontario bakery approached BCTGM Local...

17 April, 2023

Bureau of Labor Statistics data released today showed union membership in the United States grew by more than 273,000 in 2022, despite fierce and often illegal corporate union-busting. While the data also showed a slight dip in nationwide union density, the real story is that hundreds of thousands of workers overcame the odds to join a union last year in a system rigged against them. Corporate giants such as Amazon and Starbucks are spending millions of...

19 January, 2023

On September 6 and 7, workers at Danoneโ€™s milk processing facility in Salt Lake City, overwhelmingly voted to join BCTGM Local 401 (Salt Lake City, Utah). The facility, which produces Horizon milk products, employs nearly 100 workers in production, maintenance, shipping and quality control. In addition to Salt Lake City, the BCTGM has organized workers at five Danone facilities in the United States within the last 20 years. The BCTGM represents Danone workers in Minster, Ohio (Local...

21 September, 2022

Who is going to fire the bosses? Who is going to discipline those that harass all of us? I told everyone, โ€˜until we get a union, this is never going to be a good or fair place to work.โ€ The workers at Blues City Brewing Company overcame a ruthless, anti-union campaign and voted on December 10, 2020 to join BCTGM Local 149 (Memphis, Tenn.). However, Jasmine White was fired before she could vote UNION YES. As a...

29 April, 2021

President Joe Biden on Tuesday continued his support of pro-union actions by calling for the House to pass the Protect the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) to make it easier for workers to unionize. Biden strongly encouraged the House of Representatives to "pass the PRO Act," a bill that he said would strengthen unions and "dramatically enhance the power of workers to organize and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions." ...

29 April, 2021

Employers commonly use a variety of tactics, legal and illegal, to make it difficult for workers to form unions. The PRO Act, the most significant overhaul of labor law since the New Deal, would help level the playing field. Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute, explains how. Check out this EPI fact sheet on Why Workers Need the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. https://youtu.be/8RXYbC-yjkw ...

27 April, 2021

Today is a national day of action for the PRO Act and we asking every BCTGM member to help flood the Senate phone lines with support for the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. Click to call senators Weโ€™re almost there. If we can get this passed, working peopleโ€™s rights will be protected for generations to come. The PRO Act has already passed the U.S. House with bipartisan support. The PRO Act would: Empower workers to exercise the...

08 April, 2021

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects workers who advocate for improvements on the jobย or seek to organize a union, but it only extends those protections to workers classified as โ€œemployeesโ€ย under a very narrow definition of that term. Workers classified as โ€œindependent contractorsโ€ are not protected by the NLRA. Employers often misclassify their employees as independent contractors, thereby excluding theirย workforce from the NLRAโ€™s protections. This allows employers to ensure their workers will not comeย together to form...

18 March, 2021

The Protecting the Right to Organize Act โ€” PRO Act (H.R. 842) passed the House last night with a 225-206 vote, with five Republicans joining Democrats in favor of it. President Biden strongly backs the legislation and released a powerful statement this week stating, "Nearly 60 million Americans would join a union if they get a chance, but too many employers and states prevent them from doing so through anti-union attacks. They know that without...

10 March, 2021

Yesterday, the BCTGM hosted a live political discussion for member leaders and organizers on Facebook. The panel consisted of staff and activists from both the BCTGM and AFL-CIO (left to right above): Michelle Ellis (moderating),ย Digital Media Dir., BCTGMHarry Kaiser,ย Political Dir./Asst. to President Anthony Shelton, BCTGMRichard Womack,ย Asst. to Pres. Richard Trumka, AFL-CIOJohn Price,ย Organizing Dir., BCTGMDavid Driscoll-Knight,ย East Region Field Dir., AFL-CIOMargaret McLaughlin,ย International Rep./Organizer, BCTGMJared Cummings,ย Rank & File Organizer, BCTGM Local 53 Exec. Board Member In the preview below, Harry...

10 March, 2021