A new Gallup poll released this week shows that public approval of unions has risen by five percentage points over the past year, reaching 58% positive, the highest point since a 59% approval rating in 2008 and significantly higher than the all-time low of 48% approval recorded in 2009....
Pictured here after the final votes were counted is (from left, front row) Intl. Rep. David Woods, Randy Williams, George Key, Tony Sanders, L. 42 Bus. Agt. Zach Townsend and L. 149 Pres./GEB member Letitia Malone, (from left, back row) Vanessa Corbitt, Allan Wright, Joseph Dickens and Phyllis Dickens. It was the unwavering strength and courage of 80 workers at a peanut shelling plant in Alabama that prevailed in their fight for dignity and respect through...
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has scheduled a Federal Hearing to deliberate the Federal Complaint against Archer Daniel Midland (ADM) for violating Federal Labor Laws by interrogating, threatening and intimidating workers during their efforts to join a union. Sixty-two workers at the ADM Bio-Product Maintenance plant in Decatur, Ill. voted to join BCTGM Local 103G earlier this year in a secret ballot election conducted by NLRB Region 25. This was the second attempt by the ADM...
The 31 workers at the Patty King International manufacturing plant are proud new members of BCTGM Local 264 (Toronto). The workers at the Concord, Ontario plant produce Jamaican Patties, a Jamaican ethnic food. The production workers reached out to Canadian International Vice President Ron Piercey and the Local 264 Business Agent Bill Hegedus and Business Agent Michael Smith. The workers are predominately Sri Lankan and Indian. Communication was made easy by one of the workers who translated...
“Senator Elizabeth Warren recently gave a speech where she made her case for electing women Democrats to Congress saying, ‘If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu.’ And this is something I’ve started telling workers in organizing campaigns.” — John Price, BCTGM International Director of Organization [caption id="attachment_4789" align="alignright" width="288" caption="Workers at the Penford Foods plant in Seattle became fed up with the company’s elimination of benefits and contacted the BCTGM. They...
As BCTGM members and their families welcome a New Year, we can look back at 2014 as a source of great pride and optimism for our Union. While the BCTGM and our members certainly faced serious and difficult challenges on many fronts, we are heading into the New Year as a stronger, battle-tested Union, fully prepared to take whatever action is necessary to improve the lives of our members and bring the benefits of BCTGM...
Today, workers at the Bimbo Bakeries USA high performance facility in Elkhart, Indiana voted to become members of BCTGM Local 1 (Chicago). This is the fourth Bimbo high performance workplace the Union has organized in the last 22 months. In 2010, Bimbo Bakeries USA announced it would invest one billion dollars into upgrading and building new high performance bakeries in the United States. Bimbo built four brand new high performance bakeries in Rockwall, Texas; Lehigh Valley,...
In 2006, organizers at Local 358 (Richmond, Va.) were extremely disappointed after workers at the Supervalu distribution center in Richmond Virginia, voted narrowly against joining the BCTGM. “It’s a punch in the gut when you lose a campaign,” says International Representative Jim Condran who assisted the local during the organizing drive. “But we never lost contact with those workers and the organizing committee continued to work doggedly to garner more support.” Fast forward eight years, and those...
This is a cross post from the AFL-CIO: The growing movement for a living wage and justice for fast-food and other low-wage workers will reach another milestone next week with a nationwide strike set for Aug. 29. Following the success and public support of a walkout in eight cities earlier this month, those workers and the community, faith and labor groups that back them are calling on fast-food and low-wage retail workers across the nation to join them in the fight for $15...
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is now fully staffed and able to continue to function to protect workers’ rights after the U.S. Senate on July 30 confirmed five members. The votes end a months-long blockade on President Obama’s nominees by Senate Republicans who threatened to shut the board down August 27. The five members are current NLRB Chairman Mark Pearce; Nancy Schiffer, a former AFL-CIO associate general counsel; and NLRB attorney Kent Hirozawa, currently the...
Prime Example of Why the Senate Must Confirm Obama’s Board Nominees This is how hope turns into despair. More than a year since they voted to form a union, Panera workers in Michigan are still waiting. The franchisee that owns the Panera Bread stores in the region refused to recognize the BCTGM as the official representative of the bakers and refused to meet to bargain a first contract. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that Panera broke the...
Ursula Zerilli, MLive.com KALAMAZOO, MI – Daniel Wood used to carry extra baking tools in his back pack, but lately the Panera Bread lead baker dons a briefcase full of legal paperwork. Wood, who works at the Panera Bread franchise on West Main Street, has become a leader of sorts of 17 bakers from six Panera Bread franchises in Kalamazoo, Portage, Battle Creek, Jackson and St. Joseph, who were the first in the country to unionize...
By Dave Jamieson, Huffington Post Kathleen VonEitzen heads into work at 10 p.m. with a long night ahead of her. A trained baker, VonEitzen spends the evening and early morning hours cutting and shaping trays full of dough, shuffling between multiple ovens, and constantly checking her crusts until they're browned just right. She pulls hundreds of fresh baguettes, bagels, cookies and scones from the ovens until her shift finally ends around dawn. VonEitzen, 55, doesn't work in...
November 21, 2012 – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a Summary Judgment against Bread of Life d/b/a Panera Bread in South Western Michigan. The Judgment states the company violated Sections 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act (ACT) by refusing to recognize and bargain with the BCTGM Local 70 (Grand Rapids, Mich.). On February 24, 2012, after a full and complete hearing on a petition filed by the BCTGM Local 70...
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,...