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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In an area of Pennsylvania where workers at several manufacturing plants belong to the BCTGM, it wasn’t a difficult decision for workers at the Cargill Cocoa facility in Hazelton about who to contact when they wanted to form a union. A worker at the Cargill plant first reached out to BCTGM International Director of Organization John Price in January through the union’s online organizing form. Afraid of management retaliation, the worker, Louis Morales, initially used a...

08 September, 2017

When President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act on June 10, 1963, women made only 60 cents on the dollar for doing the same job as a man. The gap has narrowed in the intervening years, but pay is not yet equal and wages have been held down for women and men alike. We must erase the wage gap by raising pay for all working people. Lift All for Equality The pay gap narrows when...

09 June, 2017

[caption id="attachment_5831" align="alignright" width="300"] Intl. Rep. Jason Davis, Sen. Bernie Sanders, L. 149 Pres. Letitia Malone.[/caption] "If Mississippi Nissan workers succeed, it will send a powerful message in the south and across this country that working people are prepared to fight for justice." – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told the Nissan factory workers. On March 4, BCTGM International Representative Jason Davis and Local 149 (Memphis) President and GEB member Letitia Malone traveled to Canton, Miss. to join in...

06 March, 2017

"Organizing MUST be a priority of every member of the BCTGM in order to grow and build our strength," BCTGM International President David Durkee said during a recent one-day meeting on the BCTGM's organizing program. "Organizing is hard work. But it is something that each and every local union needs to embrace and expand," Director of Organization John Price explained in his opening remarks. The meeting included all International Vice Presidents, International Representatives, BCTGM Organizers and International staff....

27 February, 2017

Workers at the Franklin Street Bakery in Minneapolis have struggled for years with poverty wages, unaffordable health insurance, lack of time off to care for family members, little opportunity for advancement and raises, favoritism, and unfairly applied work policies. When the bakers decided to exercise their legal right to form a union and improve their conditions, management launched an aggressive anti-union, anti-worker campaign against the workers. The owner of Franklin Street Bakery,  Wayne Kostroski,  is also the...

20 January, 2017

BCTGM Director of Organization John Price joined with officers and organizers from BCTGM Local Union 22 (Minneapolis) in a series of meetings with employees of Franklin Street Bakery who are in the midst of an organizing drive to join the BCTGM. The campaign, which began in 2016, has received tremendous support from the Minneapolis/St. Paul community including the Minnesota State AFL-CIO, local community groups, town council members, and even the NFL Players Association. The owners of Franklin...

19 January, 2017

For years, employees at the Franklin Street Bakery in Minneapolis have reported poverty wages, lack of time off for illness and family, unaffordable health coverage, little opportunity for advancement, and favoritism. Workers are now exercising their legal right to form a union because they believe speaking up together is the only way bakery management will treat them with respect and pay living wages. In response, management has began an anti-union campaign against workers filled with threats,...

28 November, 2016

When workers at the Minneapolis-based Franklin Street Bakery had enough of management's unfair treatment, they reached out to BCTGM Local 22 for help in forming a union. But as soon as the company got word that workers were trying to unionize, they began harassing, threatening and intimidating them. Since its organizing drive began this spring, Local 22 has filed “at least a dozen” charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Franklin Street Bakery for violating workers’...

29 August, 2016

In the beginning, workers were not afraid. On the morning of January 11, sick of unsafe working conditions and unfair pay, dozens of workers at Portland Specialty Baking marched into the company president’s office and asked for voluntary union recognition. [caption id="attachment_5711" align="alignright" width="300"] Current and former workers at Portland Specialty Baking, together with attorneys and supporters, announced a class action wage theft lawsuit on Aug. 8.[/caption] It was early 2015 that BCTGM Local 114 (Portland, Ore), with...

03 August, 2016

March 23/Erin Johansson If an entire industry existed with the sole purpose of interfering with a federally protected right, isn’t it common sense that our federal government should want to keep tabs on it? Thankfully, the Obama administration just released a rule that will step up federal monitoring of employers who hire unionbusting consultants. Unionbusters profit from telling companies how to stop working people from coming together in union to improve their workplaces. When faced with an...

24 March, 2016

Workers at Lifeway Foods Inc. facilities in Chicago voted to join BCTGM Local 1 (Chicago) a year and a half ago but remain without a union contract as the company refuses to negotiate with the union. And despite a 2015 order by the the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the company will not bargain in good faith. Taking matters into their own hands, Local 1, with assistance from the International Union, has launched a  campaign to bring this...

14 March, 2016

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is guilty of violating federal labor laws. The NLRB adopted the findings and conclusions of Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Melissa M. Olivero. In a thirty-three page Decision, Judge Olivero wrote, “ADM has committed numerous violations of Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by interrogating and threatening its employees. During their 2015 effort to become members of BCTGM Local 103G, workers at ADM's Bio-products facility in Decatur, Ill....

03 March, 2016

More than three years have passed since they voted to form a union and Panera workers in Michigan are still waiting. The franchisee that owns the Panera Bread stores in the region continues to refuse to recognize the BCTGM as the official collective bargaining representative of the bakers and refuses to meet to bargain a first contract.  The NLRB found that Panera broke the law by refusing to bargain, and ordered the company to bargain with the...

06 November, 2015

If we’re going to raise wages for all working people and get our communities thriving again, we need to protect and strengthen the rights of working folks to speak up together at our workplaces. Check out this excellent video from Robert Reich about why unions are the key to building a strong middle class!    ...

15 September, 2015

The following article featuring the current organizing drive  of BCTGM Local 232 in Phoenix, Arizona was published online by Erik De La Garza  on Thursday, September 10.  PHOENIX (CN) - Multibillion-dollar Shamrock Foods, the largest dairy in the Southwest, threatens, spies on and fires employees for supporting their union, the National Labor Relations Board claims in court. NLRB Regional Director Cornele A. Overstreet sued Shamrock Foods Co. on Tuesday in Federal Court. Shamrock Foods is ranked 185...

14 September, 2015