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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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In the midst of a pandemic and in the face of an unrelenting, anti-union campaign, workers at Blueโ€™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. โ€œFaith 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, inventorย 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

On November 5, BCTGM Local Unions representing Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU) facilities in the Southern and Midwest Regions reached agreement on a โ€œpatternโ€ settlement impacting thousands of workers in the bread and cake sector. The new five-year agreement was overwhelmingly ratified by Local 65 (Oklahoma City, Okla.) members at the BBU bakery in Oklahoma City, officially setting it as the wholesale pattern for the industry. Due to the pandemic, only the negotiating committee met in person...

03 December, 2020

In Bloomington, Ill., BCTGM Local 342 members have proudly produced some of America's favorite chocolate candies for 63 years. Union members at the plant negotiated their first collective bargaining agreement in 1957 when they produced Beich's Candy. In 1984, Nestlรฉ acquired the facility and Local 342 members began producing the company's iconic Nestlรฉ Crunch bar, Nestlรฉ Toll House Morsels and other brands owned by Nestlรฉ. Now, Local 342 members will be making chocolate for the...

01 December, 2020

Pro-democracy and equality marchers flooded the streets of Minneapolis in the days following the Presidential election. Local 22 President Wally Borgan, Vice Pres. Matt Ryder and Financial Secretary-Treasurer James Rutten attended a rally and march in downtown Minneapolis. "While some were still celebrating the Biden/Harris victory at the event, the theme of the march was it doesnโ€™t matter who was elected, we need to hold them accountable for needed changes in racial equality, and to...

19 November, 2020

As we prepare to write the next chapter in Americaโ€™s history, let us never forget our veterans, and the more than 1 million active union members, who have protected and served our country. The BCTGM honors all those who wore the uniform of the United States, and we thank you for your service. โ€œI found a way through the military to gain that dignity and became a soldier, a leader. But when I came home,...

11 November, 2020

Joe Biden and Kamala Harrisโ€™ victory in the 2020 Presidential election is a win for Americaโ€™s labor movement. The overwhelming majority of American voters chose Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. American workers turned out in record numbers despite everything they tried to put in our way. Everywhere in every way, working people are heroically and resiliently fighting back against this pandemic, its economic fall out, chronic income inequality and systemic racism. President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect...

07 November, 2020

(Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2020)โ€”Today, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka hosted a press call breaking down the labor movementโ€™s role in this yearโ€™s election and discussing the path ahead for working people.  โ€œThe resilience of unions is the story of 2020. Itโ€™s been on display all year. Itโ€™s guided by our belief that a better day is still within our reach. And today, I am more confident than ever that a better day is near,โ€ said Trumka....

05 November, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rCYft7zToc&feature=youtu.be Tomorrow is Election Day. Watch this message from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka which lays out why we must elect Joe Biden as our next president. WHY? โ€ข Joe Biden supports the PRO Act, which will create a fairer process for forming a union. โ€ข Joe Biden supports the HEROES Act to protect our paychecks, pensions and public services during this pandemic. โ€ข Joe Biden understands America cannot go back to business as usual, back to an economy fueled by...

02 November, 2020

We can make the difference on Nov. 3. As union members, we come together and rise to the challenge when our communities need us. And right now, nothing is more important to the future of the labor movement and working families and our communities than voting. We're just a few short days away from collectively deciding the future of our country. As we rise to meet the challenges COVID-19 presents to our nationโ€”and especially to working...

30 October, 2020

To Daniel Ramos, a machine operator at the Danone North America plant in Bridgeton, N.J., a vote to become a member of the BCTGM was a decision he made based on worker dignity. โ€œI will vote for the union because we deserve dignity and respect. We need to make sure our voices are heard. We have the power of our voice. I feel positive โ€“ we will win this union election because it is what is...

22 October, 2020

No one had to worry about social distancing, shaking hands or meeting face-to-face for the recent meeting of IUF union affiliates with members employed by Philip Morris International (PMI) . Instead of meeting as planned in Poland, BCTGM representatives together with other IUF affiliate unions representing workers in tobacco growing, manufacturing, sales and marketing in Europe and the Americas joined together for a zoom video conference. BCTGM International Secretary-Treasurer David Woods, Assistant to the International President...

21 October, 2020

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) today began a video series exposing the human cost of President Trumpโ€™s broken promises that U.S. workersย โ€œwonโ€™t lose one plantโ€ and declarations that โ€œ[plants] are all coming back.โ€ The first video highlights workers at Transportation Communications Union (TCU/IAM) Local 6016 in Roanoke, Va. FreightCar America announced in July 2019 that it would be closing and laying off 198 TCU/IAM members. The work moved to Mexico and Alabama.  In September 2020, FreightCar America announced...

13 October, 2020

We are quickly approaching the most consequential election of our lifetime. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate communities across the country, there has been a sharp decrease in the number of people who are able to work the polls on Election Day. This threatens the number of polling places that can remain open and could easily create long lines. When there arenโ€™t enough poll workers, voting locations close and lines stretch for hours. Help your...

09 October, 2020