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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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Cookies, pies, muffins, artesian breads, cakes, cheese cakes, bagels and numerous other specialty bakery items sold in 106 Wegmans stores are proudly made by hard-working BCTGM Local 116 (Auburn, N.Y.) workers at the companyโ€™s flagship bakery in Rochester, N.Y. Carlos Andujar (Breads, Local 116 President) and Ray Colon (shop co-chair)Corelis Matos Ross, Fardosa Said, Rodha Said, and Justina Nwamadi (Sweets)Jose Gonzalez and Alexander Daniel (Parbake)Rosa West and Val Wheems (Sweets)Vahid Begovic (Shipping) There are 424 union...

02 July, 2021

Two BCTGM local unions represent workers at several chemical companies all located within a sprawling 400-acre industrial complex in a remote corner of Shelby County, Tennessee. Local 407G (Memphis, Tenn.) members at Plaskolite manufacture continuous cast acrylic sheet used for spas and baths, as well as clear museum and frame grade acrylic sheet. According to Local 407G President Terry Howard, the plant ramped up production throughout the pandemic to provide acrylic sheets to retail stores, schools,...

01 July, 2021

"If thereโ€™s one thing I could say that really shaped who I am today as a person, it would be growing up in a union family."- BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton, June 2021 BCTGM President's Message My father, Walter Shelton, started working at Colonial Bakery in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1952. It was a tough job, working six days a week. It was a great union job with good pay and benefits to raise a family. My father...

30 June, 2021

When Thomasโ€™ English Muffin bakery was built in 1977, it brought good-paying bakery jobs to workers in the Frederick, Maryland area. For more than 40 years, BCTGM Local 68 (Baltimore, Md.) has proudly represented workers at the bakery where union members produce1.8 million packages of Original โ€œNooks & Cranniesโ€ English Muffins per week. Recently, BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton accompanied Local 68 Financial Secretary Gary Oskoian and Business Agent Rodney Lightfoot to the bakery for a tour...

30 June, 2021

The BCTGM International Union awards five scholarship prizes to members, or children of members, each year worth $5,000. The program is a tribute to the legacy of President Durkee and the high value he placed on learning and education. The 2021 Winners include: Summer Clair, daughter of Local 403 (Kingston, Ontario) member Gerard Clair, who works for George Weston Limited in Kingston. Summer will attend Algonquin College. Kyla Pham, daughter of Local 374G (Lancaster, Pa.) member Chieu Pham,...

28 June, 2021

โ€œI come from a union family and unionism is in my blood. I am not just a union member โ€“ but I live a union life, through and through. It is who I am.โ€ -Bill Andre, Local 116 (Auburn, N.Y.) Business Agent/Financial Secretary. Andre was born and raised in Auburn, located in Cayuga County on the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes, in Central New York.  He takes great pride in noting...

21 May, 2021

โ€œEducation is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the worldโ€ โ€“ Nelson Mandela Local 125 (San Leandro, Calif.) members Tony Deng and Janet Deng began working at the Ghirardelli Chocolate factory in San Leandro in 1994. Tony is a machine operator and has worked at the plant for 26 years. Janet, also a machine operator, retired in 2020 after 25 years.Their good union jobs, together with their hard work and dedication, have...

06 May, 2021

โ€œI 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,โ€ 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...

06 May, 2021

Who is going to fire the bosses? Who is going to discipline those that harass all of us? I told everyone, โ€˜until we get a union, this is never going to be a good or fair place to work.โ€ 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...

29 April, 2021

โ€œIf 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.โ€ โ€” Local 114 retiree Daniel Berg worked at the Safeway Clackamas bread plant for 36 years before retiring in 2006. โ€œIโ€™ve appreciated collecting my...

29 April, 2021

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." ...

29 April, 2021

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 ...

27 April, 2021

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: โ— Elections have consequences. In the American Rescue Plan (ARP), President Biden and our pro-worker allies in Congress delivered $86 billion in...

27 April, 2021

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...

26 April, 2021

The White House said on April 9 that President Biden had picked Doug Parker, chief of Californiaโ€™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 Laborโ€™s Mine Safety and Health Administration. Earlier, he was a senior policy advisor and special assistant at the Department of Labor (DOL). An...

13 April, 2021