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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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The February 4 announcement by Mondelēz 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. Mondelēz 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 Mondelēz 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/Mondelēz 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. Mondelēz 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. “Bobby” 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 workers’ right to stand together and bargain for fairer wages, better...

05 February, 2021

John Sweeney, who led an era of transformative change in America’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 “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen”. 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. America’s labor laws are no longer an effective. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act will provide...

22 January, 2021

The AFL-CIO’s has announced the 2021 Workers First Agenda. It is bold, comprehensive and exactly what America needs to meet this moment of pain and uncertainty. We urge Congress and the incoming Biden administration to seize this opportunity to transform the lives of working people through lasting, structural change starting with our five highest priorities: WORKER EMPOWERMENT: At the center of this agenda is the PRO (Protecting the Right to Organize) Act. WORKER SAFETY AND THE PANDEMIC:...

13 January, 2021

President-elect Joe Biden has announced that he has chosen Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to be his labor secretary. Walsh, 53, has served as the Democratic mayor of Boston since 2014. A former union member, Walsh has a long history with labor. He served as president of Laborers Local 223 and, before becoming mayor, led the Boston Building Trades of the AFL-CIO. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Walsh will be an "exceptional" labor secretary, stating: “Boston Mayor Marty Walsh...

08 January, 2021

Today, we recognize the historic election in Georgia and thank the union activists and organizers – including scores of BCTGM members who helped make the victories of these two pro-union champions possible. With the election of Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, working people in Georgia and across the United States have ensured that their voices will be heard on Capitol Hill in 2021 and beyond. Now, we will have a pro-labor majority in the U.S....

08 January, 2021

The Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council hosted a “Let’s Get Out the Vote” rally for U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock outside the Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 613 headquarters in downtown Atlanta on Friday. “Workers are the folk who make America great,” You are the job creators. We’ve got to defend a livable wage. It is wrong to call people essential workers and not provide them with essential wages and essential benefits.” - Rev....

16 December, 2020

(Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2020)—Too many of America’s workers are being killed on the job and face dangerous working conditions. The latest data from the U.S.  Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries shows that workers of color are especially high risk.  In 2019, 5,333 workers died on the job, the largest number since 2007. That is an average of 15 workers dying each and every day. This does not include the enormous number...

16 December, 2020

This year marks the 70th anniversary for Annabelle Candy Company in Hayward, Calif. which is home to legendary BCTGM Local 125-made candy bars Abba-Zaba, Rocky Road, Big Hunk, U-NO and Look! By 1950, Altshuler’s candy was so popular that he opened a larger scale candy manufacturing business and named it after his daughter, Annabelle.Annabelle's is now run by Gary Gogol, Altshuler's grandson. Local 125 members continue to make candy at the same Hayward, California factory that...

15 December, 2020

This is a sweet Christmas cookie story. It is a story about how a second place winner becomes a confectionary legend. It is a story about a peanut butter cookie, topped with a BCTGM Local 464-made chocolate Hershey’s kiss. Formally called the “peanut blossom,” these cookies are near-ubiquitous around holiday baking traditions. They are the ultimate Christmas comfort confection― and they came into being by accident. As the story has been told, a Ohio baker named...

11 December, 2020

In the midst of a pandemic and in the face of an unrelenting, anti-union campaign, workers at Blue’s City Brewing Company in Memphis, Tenn. stood strong in solidarity and voted to have a voice in their workplace with BCTGM Local 149 (Memphis). There are currently 550 workers employed at the plant with several hundred additional workers expected to join the workforce as the company plans to expand the facility. “Faith without hard work is nothing. With the...

10 December, 2020

Before BCTGM Local 1 (Chicago) members at Tootsie Roll Industries started making 64 million miniature chewy chocolates a day in Chicago, inventor Leo Hirshfield sold the individually hand-wrapped candies at his small Brooklyn, N.Y. store. Abel Torres, Matthew Borger, Julian Ortega, Javier Reyes, Jose Gomez An Austrian immigrant, Hirshfield always dreamed of becoming a candy maker. In 1896, Hirschfield began making chocolate chewy candies from an old family recipe, which he hand-rolled, wrapped and sold individually. He named...

05 December, 2020

The 2021 David B. Durkee Memorial Scholarship Program will grant five $5,000 one-time scholarship awards. One of the five scholarships may be awarded to an active, dues paying member of the BCTGM. The International Scholarship Office must receive all applications by January 31, 2021. Other program requirements (personal profile, ACT/SAT scores, academic report, essay) must be submitted to the International no later than March 31, 2021. Rules and regulations and applications can be downloaded here. ...

03 December, 2020