Organizing
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
bctgm, bakers union, tobacco union, candy union, food workers, food workers union, grain millers, grain millers union, mondelez, nabisco, snack union,
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(Below article is excerpted from a Dec. 18 article by NW Labor Press) Workers who make bread for Grand Central Bakery in Portland, Ore. voted to join BCTGM Local 114 on December 12 in an election held by the National Labor Relations Board. The 29-to-9 vote affirmed what the workers had told management three weeks earlier: Local 114 has the support of a majority of the workers at the company’s wholesale bakery. Workers who make bread...

19 December, 2019

In early October, maintenance workers at the new Purina pet food plant in Hartwell, Ga. voted to join BCTGM Local 42 (Atlanta). This organizing win followed the successful election of quality control workers at the Fairburn, Ga. pet food facility, also represented by Local 42. The Hartwell plant opened in early 2018 as a distribution center while the production facility was being built. In May 2018, workers at the new plant reached out to the BCTGM...

08 November, 2019

The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act has passed a major milestone and was voted out of committee. Now, it’s poised for a vote on the floor of the U.S. House. But the fight isn’t over. We need members of Congress to keep up the momentum to get the PRO Act passed. Help us keep up the pressure: Please add your voice and ask your representative to become a co-sponsor of H.R....

16 October, 2019

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor advanced theΒ Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, H.R. 2474, a bold proposal to ensure American workers can organize and negotiate for higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions. In response to rising income inequality that is leaving workers and middle-class families behind, theΒ PRO ActΒ would empower millions of Americans to stand together and negotiate for a fair share of the profits they produce. A recent...

26 September, 2019

For too long, employers have been able to violate the National Labor Relations Act without facing serious consequences, routinely denying working people the basic right to join with co-workers to make our jobs better. Click here to take action and shore up the right to join a union. The collective strength of workers to negotiate for improved pay and benefits has eroded, and income inequality has reached levels that predate the Great Depression. We need your help! There...

08 May, 2019

Workday Minnesota has published an excellent interview with Sioux Falls AFL-CIO Central Labor Council President Kooper Caraway, who on January 3, 2018 became the youngest CLC President in the U.S. at age 27. What is it like organizing in a right to work state? How is he helping to change the labor movement in South Dakota? Check out this Workday Minnesota blog postΒ about this impressive labor leader. ...

04 May, 2019

Today, Sen.Β Bernie SandersΒ (I-Vt.) announced new legislation,Β The Workplace Democracy Act. What would this legislation do? END Right-to-Work-for-Less ALLOW unions to be formed through majority sign-up STOP companies from denying a first contract for new union workers EXPOSE third-party firms hired to run anti-union campaigns. Senator Sanders on the Workplace Democracy Act: "Under our legislation when a majority of workers sign cards to join a union they will have that union, end of discussion. We are sick and tired of...

09 May, 2018

When the quality assurance workers at the Nestle Purina PetCare plant in Edmond, Oklahoma realized the benefits production workers enjoyed thanks to a BCTGM collective bargaining agreement, they set out to become members of Local 366G (Oklahoma City). Local 366G represents the 235 workers in production, processing, sanitation, maintenance, and the warehouse. And on April 19, the workers of the Nestle Purina Pet Care quality assurance department joined the ranks of the unionized plant by voting...

20 April, 2018

BCTGM Local 22 (Minneapolis) Organizer Edgar Gomez together with communications staff at the Minnesota AFL-CIO worked with a City Pages journalist to tell the story of Franklin Street Bakery workers who have been fighting for the right to join a union for more than two years. The Baker Uprising: Minnesota's king of hunger relief faces mutiny in his bread factoryΒ ...

22 March, 2018

Repost from our Brothers and Sisters at the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)- the largest federal employee union representing 700,000 federal and D.C. government workers nationwide and overseas.Β  The richest 1 % of American households now own 40% of the country's wealth, and they’re fighting tooth and nail to keep it that way. That’s why we see corporate-backed politicians doing everything they can to take away our voice, our rights, our freedom to join in...

05 March, 2018

On Saturday, February 3, BCTGM Local 22 joined forces with the Minnesota AFL-CIO and the greater Twin Cities labor community in support of Franklin Street Bakery workers at A Taste of Justice. The event represented the bakery workers’ response to the Taste of the NFL party hosted on the same day by their part-owner, Wayne Kostroski. BCTGM Local 22 President Bruce Peglow reported tremendous support from the labor/progressive community in the Twin City area, with an...

05 February, 2018

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual report on union membership, which found that the number of union members rose by 260,000 in 2017. This reflects critical organizing victories across a range of industries, which have reaped higher wages, better benefits, and a more secure future for working people around the country. β€œIn the face of a challenging year, the power of working people is on the rise,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. β€œTogether,...

19 January, 2018

The Executive Director of the NFL Players Association, DeMaurice Smith, has sent a letter to the CEO of the Super Bowl Host Committee, condemning the actions of "Taste of the NFL"Β  director and Franklin Street Bakery owner Wayne Kostroski. "For more than a year, Franklin Street Bakery workers have been exploring whether to exercise their freedom to form a union so they can have a voice in the workplace and negotiate for a better life for...

12 January, 2018

As BCTGM members and their families prepare to celebrate the holidays and welcome a New Year, we can look back at 2017 as a source of pride and optimism for our Union. While the BCTGM and our members certainly continue to confront serious and difficult challenges, we head into 2018 fully prepared to take whatever action is necessary to improve the lives of our members and bring the benefits of BCTGM membership to more workers...

20 December, 2017

In less than two months, Superbowl 52 will be held in Minnesota. As part of the festivities, a charity called β€œTaste of the NFL” will hold a party with the rich and famous to raise money for food shelves to help β€œKick Hunger.” Raising money for food shelves is a great cause, but β€œTaste of the NFL” Executive Director Wayne KostroskiΒ  reportedly pays workers at his Franklin Street Bakery so little that they must use these...

19 December, 2017