“I love my job. There is always something that makes my work interesting and challenging. In a way, my job is just an elevated shop steward position. Just like my years as a shop steward, I am helping out union members all day, every day,” concludes Gomez. Sixteen years ago, Rudy Gomez took a job at the Safeway wholesale bread plant and warehouse in Richmond, Calif. and began a union career that would lead him to...
Who is going to fire the bosses? Who is going to discipline those that harass all of us? I told everyone, ‘until we get a union, this is never going to be a good or fair place to work.” 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...
“If the pension legislation had not passed, it would have affected all of us Local 114 Bakers Union retirees, and I do not deserve to live on less. It would be a disgrace after all the years I worked hard for my pension. I gave up wages so I would have my pension.” — Local 114 retiree Daniel Berg worked at the Safeway Clackamas bread plant for 36 years before retiring in 2006. “I’ve appreciated collecting my...
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." ...
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 ...
Simply stated, the American Rescue Plan helps keep the promise of a secure retirement for millions of working Americans who have earned, and deserve, nothing less. Here are some important points on the American Rescue Plan which protects the B&C Plan and more than 10 million hardworking Americans who participate in multiemployer plans: ● Elections have consequences. In the American Rescue Plan (ARP), President Biden and our pro-worker allies in Congress delivered $86 billion in...
The following is a special column by BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton published in the March/April issue of the BCTGM NEWS. It has been an historic three months in America. The election of Joe Biden and Democratic control of Congress have created a tremendous boost for working families and organized labor. The most significant development of 2021 is the enactment of the American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law by President Biden on March 11. Included in...
The White House said on April 9 that President Biden had picked Doug Parker, chief of California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) since 2019, to be assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. (OSHA). During the Obama administration, Parker was deputy assistant secretary for policy in the Dept. of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration. Earlier, he was a senior policy advisor and special assistant at the Department of Labor (DOL). An...
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 We’re almost there. If we can get this passed, working people’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...
On March 26, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) hosted a virtual celebration with Ohio workers and retirees to discuss the importance of securing the multiemployer pension measure in the American Rescue Plan. BCTGM Local 57 member Kate Hughes, a worker at Bimbo Bakeries in Zanesville, Ohio was invited to participate in the event called, “The Virtual Dignity of Work Celebration: Keeping Our Pension Promises.” Senator Brown called on each worker to discuss why the pension measure was important. “I’m...
Working people are facing a crisis beyond anything we’ve weathered since the Great Depression. Overcoming this challenge is going to require unprecedented federal investment in working people and in our communities. That means passing an infrastructure package to tackle the climate injustice, racial injustice and economic injustice facing working families while creating a new generation of good-paying union jobs. President Biden understands we need to go big, and this announcement brings us one step closer to...
For four years, the Department of Labor has been devoted to serving a handful of elite interests, instead of working people. Not anymore. The Senate has confirmed Marty Walsh as labor secretary. As a former union member, he understands the power of collective action, and his confirmation strengthens our fight to improve the lives of working people across the country. We’re going to protect workers from COVID-19. We’re going to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. We’re going...
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects workers who advocate for improvements on the job or seek to organize a union, but it only extends those protections to workers classified as “employees” under a very narrow definition of that term. Workers classified as “independent contractors” are not protected by the NLRA. Employers often misclassify their employees as independent contractors, thereby excluding their workforce from the NLRA’s protections. This allows employers to ensure their workers will not come together to form...
In response to President Biden's executive order on protecting worker health and safety, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched a national emphasis program focusing enforcement efforts on companies that put the largest number of workers at serious risk of contracting the coronavirus. The program also prioritizes employers that retaliate against workers for complaints about unsafe or unhealthy conditions, or for exercising other rights protected by federal law. "This deadly pandemic has taken a staggering...
This week, House Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion bill to help fight the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yesterday, President Biden signed the law, which will provide significant assistance to the American people during this unprecedented crisis. The American Rescue Plan is a victory. As we wrote yesterday, this historic legislation saves multiemployer pension plans like the B&C Pension Fund. The legislation provides the funding necessary for long-term solvency without forcing reductions...