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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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"America was not built by Wall Street. It was built by the middle class, and unions built the middle class. Unions put power in the hands of workers. They give workers a stronger voice to increase wages, improve the quality of jobs and protect job security, protect against racial and all other forms of discrimination and sexual harassment, and protect workersโ€™ health, safety, and benefits in the workplace. Unions lift up workers, both union and...

08 March, 2021

The Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) is also a top priority to the Union Veterans Council.  Veterans and military families have a long history of joining unions, and like the BCTGM, the Union Veterans Council believes that a union will give a veteran a better life. The PRO Act will address key issues that are keeping veteran workers from achieving financial stability. The men and women who served our country deserve stable and...

03 March, 2021

On February 26, the House of Representatives passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal that includes multiemployer pension relief and major components of the AFL-CIO's Americaโ€™s Five Economic Essentials. Call Your Senators The package, according to The New York Times, "includes more than $400 billion to combat the pandemic directly, including money to accelerate vaccine deployment and to safely reopen most schools within 100 days. An additional $350 billion would...

02 March, 2021

The BCTGM applauds the House passage of the American Rescue Plan, which includes multiemployer pension relief that would protect the hard-earned retirements of more than million American retirees. The BCTGM is part of the AFL-CIO Retirement Security Working Group, which has worked tirelessly over the last several years fighting for multiemployer pension relief legislation. The following statement was issued following passage of the American Rescue Plan by the House on February 27: After a lifetime of hard...

01 March, 2021

The United States has reached a tragic milestone in our fight against COVID-19: More than half a million Americans have succumbed to the coronavirus. Many of those lost were our union brothers, sisters and friends. The labor movement mourns their passing, and in their memory, we will fight every day to overcome this pandemic. Please visit this special AFL-CIO In Memoriam site. ...

23 February, 2021

Action begins with a desire. Heartfelt compassion leads to action. Samantha Martin learned at a young age the importance of having a voice and being an advocate for others. Her father, Timothy Martin, is a Local 317T member, now retired from the maintenance department of ITG Brands in Greensboro, N.C.โ€œMy dad worked for Lorillard and he was a union member for as long as I can remember,โ€ recalls Martin. โ€œHe always talked highly about the importance...

22 February, 2021

Protect workers. Decrease risk. Increase safety. Check out OSHA's guidance on implementing a COVID-19 Prevention Program in the workplace. OSHA has answers to questions about reporting work-related exposures to COVID-19. https://twitter.com/i/status/1357333085352849410 ...

22 February, 2021

The BCTGM welcomes the message released by leading scientific experts urging stronger protections for workers and the public due to proof that inhalation is the major route of transmission causing COVID-19 infections and outbreaks. Leading scientific and medical experts are calling upon the Biden Administration to take immediate action to address inhalation exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a cornerstone of the COVID-19 pandemic response. In a letter to the Biden administrationsโ€™ top officials heading the...

19 February, 2021

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: โ€œAmerica can only build back better if unions are doing the building.โ€ Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and leaders from construction and manufacturing unions met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss actions the administration can take to create good-paying union jobs, highlighting the need to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, COVID-19 relief and an infrastructure package. After the meeting,...

17 February, 2021

The February 4 announcement by Mondelฤ“z International that it would close bakeries in Fairlawn, N.J. (Local 719) and Atlanta, Ga. (Local 42) has been met with widespread criticism and outrage. BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton released this statement noting, "The BCTGM strongly believes that BCTGM unionized employees are the most productive and efficient workers in North America. Mondelฤ“z is taking a very short-sighted action in an effort to generate corporate profits while devastating communities and...

10 February, 2021

Statement from BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton concerning the Feb. 4 announcement by Mondelฤ“z that the company will shut bakeries in Atlanta, Ga. (Local 42) and Fairlawn, N.J. (Local 719): The BCTGM International Union was informed about the impending closing of Nabisco/Mondelฤ“z bakeries in Atlanta, Ga. and Fairlawn, N.J. directly from company officials. The BCTGM strongly believes that BCTGM unionized employees are the most productive and efficient workers in North America. Mondelฤ“z is taking a very short-sighted...

05 February, 2021

On February 4, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) along with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Congressman Robert C. โ€œBobbyโ€ Scott (VA-03), Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-12) introduced the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, comprehensive labor legislation to protect workersโ€™ right to stand together and bargain for fairer wages, better...

05 February, 2021

John Sweeney, who led an era of transformative change in Americaโ€™s labor movement, passed away February 1 at the age of 86. Sweeney was one of four children born to Irish immigrants in a working-class Bronx neighborhood shortly after the Great Depression. His parents, James and Agnes Sweeney, worked as a bus driver and a domestic worker, respectively. Sweeney always understood the struggles and the pride of working people. Sweeney was interested in politics from childhood....

03 February, 2021

President Biden has indicated he will seek to build worker power by strengthening unions. On election day eve, campaigning in western Pennsylvania, he promised to be โ€œthe most pro-union president youโ€™ve ever seenโ€. In his campaign platform, Biden endorsed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (Pro Act) which would make it easier for unions to organize workers. Americaโ€™s labor laws are no longer an effective. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act will provide...

22 January, 2021