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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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This is a blog post by AFL-CIO Trade and Globalization Policy Specialist Celeste Drake So, you may have heard that the North American Free Trade Agreement has been renegotiated. It’s definitely good that the three NAFTA countries (the United States, Canada and Mexico) are finally looking to change the NAFTA rules that have cost good jobs, made it harder to negotiate better wages, polluted our environment and generally left working people behind all across North America. But we’re...

04 October, 2018

In Memphis 50 years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while standing in solidarity with working people. King stood beside striking sanitation workers who proudly proclaimed, “I Am a Man.” This week, the BCTGM was among thousands who marched through the streets of Memphis in solidarity with the thousands who marched for justice and dignity 50 years ago. Pictured here is the proud BCTGM delegation in front of AFSCME Local 1733, on Beale Street which was renamed...

04 April, 2018

"Activist, unionist, educator and hell raiser, we give thanks for the spirit, intelligence and passion Carolyn brought to everything she put her hand to. Like our foremothers Mother Jones, Olga Madar and Sojourner Truth, Her spirit marches on!” - Elise Bryant, President, Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) Carolyn Jacobson, longtime director of the International Union's Public Relations Department and a lifelong activist, died on March 23 after a courageous, two-year fight with cancer. She was 67...

27 March, 2018

Today, President Donald Trump moved to take away work authorization from nearly 800,000 young immigrants and to terminate DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program put in place to protect immigrants who came to the United States as children. “The labor movement will stand with these brave young workers and fight for legislation so the contributions they make are celebrated, not assaulted,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Immigrants Belong in Unions America’s labor movement is a natural...

05 September, 2017

In the early hours of this morning, Senate Republicans held a dramatic vote on their last ditch effort to to undo the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and gut Medicaid. The so-called “Skinny Repeal” would have repealed the ACA’s individual mandate and suspended the employer mandate for nine years, disrupting insurance markets and eliminating access to health care for 16 million Americans. Republican Senators Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and John McCain (AZ) joined all 48 Democrats...

28 July, 2017

On May 1, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) sent a letter to President Donald Trump outlining a four-point plan for securing the best deal for American workers as the administration prepares to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Brown, a true friend of labor and working families, has strongly opposed unfair trade deals for many years. Brown, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade deals, has been in close...

02 May, 2017

Guest Post by J. David Cox, Sr., National President, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), AFL-CIO Over the last several years, anti-union lawmakers and their corporate allies have waged a relentless battle against working people. Now, the campaign to dismantle collective bargaining rights has arrived squarely at the steps of the federal government and the public workers who keep our country healthy, safe, and strong. On March 16, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that...

27 March, 2017

In response to Mondelēz International’s ongoing violations of its Collective Bargaining Agreement, BCTGM Local 300 – which represents nearly 1,000 members at the Mondelēz Nabisco Bakery located at 7300 Kedzie Avenue in Chicago – filed for injunctive relief requesting court-compelled arbitration regarding these violations. The complaint particularly calls for arbitration regarding the company’s continued use of non-union employees in bargaining unit positions instead of hiring union employees into open positions, as required under the Collective...

22 January, 2016

The BCTGM is among 60 unions within and outside of the AFL-CIO that collectively signed a letter to Congress expressing opposition to Fast Track authority, which is used to advance unfair trade deals. The letter, which can be viewed by clicking here, demonstrates the unity between workers who have jobs that are directly impacted by bad trade deals, and those whose jobs are indirectly affected. "The BCTGM and our members know firsthand the hardship that results when multinational...

03 March, 2015

Last night at dusk, outside the Memphis, Tenn. Kellogg cereal plant, hundreds of locked out BCTGM Local 252G members were joined by members of the community in a prayer vigil Led in prayer by Minister Rev. Keith Norman of First Baptist Church, workers reiterated the message to Kellogg: we want to get back to work. More than 200 BCTGM workers have been locked out since October 22 when the contract expired and management locked the doors. "We just...

08 November, 2013

In an October 30th Kellogg Company communication, the company reports the hiring of Edward Thompson as its new Vice President, Global Labor Relations.  Thompson will oversee Kellogg’s Center for Excellence and its initiatives, which is  “…to further improve our labor and employee relationships around the world,” the company states. “It is our hope that the treatment of the Memphis locked out employees is one of Thompson’s first priorities,” said BCTGM International President David B. Durkee.  BCTGM...

05 November, 2013

On Monday, October 28, BCTGM International Union President David B. Durkee issued the following statement regarding the lockout of BCTGM Local 252G members by Kellogg in Memphis, Tenn.: “The work stoppage at Kellogg’s Memphis plant is not a strike by workers who are demanding more from the company.  Kellogg’s employees, most of whom have given decades of dedicated service to the company, want to work but have been locked out of their jobs by a company...

28 October, 2013

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...

26 August, 2013

by Tulla Connell It’s hard to miss a burly firefighter in a bright pink T-shirt. And for tens of thousands of Fire Fighters (IAFF) union members across the country, that’s exactly the point. When the public sees them in pink tees, they are reminded that breast cancer is a deadly disease requiring regular exams and mammograms. And they are urged to help women who can’t afford regular check-ups. Although firefighters put their lives on the line every...

27 September, 2012

(This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO NOW Blog written by Mike Hall) If you were building a bridge, would you hire a work crew with a few hours of metal shop on their resumes, or trained and certified Iron Workers? Would you go into surgery with someone who only has a CPR certificate, or a real doctor with a medical degree? If you’re NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, or one of the 32 NFL team owners, you'd go...

25 September, 2012