VIDEO: President Richard Trumka breaks down the labor movement’s response to the coronavirus pandemic
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13 March, 2020
VIDEO: AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Fight to Protect Workers During the COVID-19 pandemic
Play video below: https://www.facebook.com/aflcio/videos/525135685053939/ ...
12 March, 2020
COVID-19 Resources for Workers
The United States and the world are facing the very real threat of the widespread transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19). Federal health officials have said the spread of the virus is likely and may cause severe disruptions to everyday life. Health care workers, firefighters, police, airline workers, emergency service workers and other first responders will be on the front lines of responding to an outbreak. But as we have seen with the initial response to the...
06 March, 2020
Danone Workers in Pennsylvania Vote BCTGM
In late February, more than 150 workers at Danone North Americaโs yogurt and plant-based powder facility in DuBois, Pa. voted overwhelmingly to join BCTGM Local 19 (Cleveland, Ohio). France-based Danone is one of the largest food & beverage companies in the world. Danoneโs largest subsidiary in the United States is Dannon Yogurt, producer of Dannon, Oikos, Danimals, Activia, and YoCream. The BCTGM represents workers at Dannon facilities in Minster, Ohio and West Jordan, Utah. ...
03 March, 2020
Workers Play Against a Stacked Deck at Trumpโs NLRB
BY WILMA B. LIEBMAN February 19, 2020 Wilma B. Liebman served as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, appointed by Presidents Clinton and Bush, and named chairman by President Obama (1997-2011). In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump declared that โour agenda is relentlessly pro-worker.โ Relentless, yes. Pro-worker, no. Look no further than the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency where workersโ rights are being rolled back radically by the...
20 February, 2020
BCTGM Provides Union Made Goods for Puerto Rico Earthquake Relief
Puerto Rico is suffering from a recent wave of high-magnitude earthquakes and hundreds of tremors that have rattled the island over the past month, leaving the people and infrastructure devastated once again. On February 10, BCTGM Local 6 (Philadelphia) officers and members delivered 14,000 pounds of baked goods and snacks donated by union contracted companies Bimbo Bakeries USA and Keystone Foods to the Seafarers International Union (SIU) hall in Philadelphia. The union-made products were put into...
11 February, 2020
‘Victory for Workers!’: House Passes Landmark PRO Act to Strengthen Unions and Labor Rights
The BCTGM joins with the AFL-CIO and the entire labor movement in commending the Democrat-controlled U.S. House for taking the most significant step toward strengthening labor laws in the United States in more than 85 years. Americaโs labor laws are no longer an effective means for working people to have our voices heard. The long overdue PRO Act will provide significant protections for workers exercising their legal right to form a union, a...
07 February, 2020
Tell Your Representative to Pass the PRO Act
Working-class and middle-class families in the United States deserve income security and should be able to organize their co-workers to demand living wages and healthy working conditions. In a time when the richest Americansโ wealth growth has increased by more than 200% while wages remain stagnant for the rest of us, we need our lawmakers to protect workersโ rights. Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor advanced the Protecting the Right to...
03 February, 2020
Quaker Oats Stewards Eager to Learn
Shop stewards from the Quaker Oats facility in Danville, Ill. met for a one-day educational conference on January 28. The group of 30 Local 347G (Danville, Ill.) members were a mix of seasoned and newly-elected stewards all eager to learn more about the duties and responsibilities of the job. The training was led by BCTGM Midwest Region Vice President Brad Schmidt and BCTGM Director of Research and Education Matthew Clark. The conference began with a segment on the history and...
30 January, 2020
2020 BCTGM Scholarship: Deadline January 31
At the 107th session of the BCTGM International General Executive Board on September 21, 2019 in Washington, D.C., the Board approved increasing the BCTGM International Scholarship awards from five $2,000 awards to five $5,000 awards. โCollege tuition is getting further and further out of reach for working families. This is something we can do to help our membersโ kids want go to school, or learn a trade.โ -David B. Durkee The BCTGM International...
16 January, 2020
IUF: “Making Women Visible in Occupational Health and Safety”
Trade unions are key to making workplaces safer and healthier for all workers - however, often women's occupational health and safety is not given enough attention. The IUF has now publishedย a resourceย on integrating gender into workplace health and safety. This resource includes a brief outline of the problem, specific concerns raised by IUF affiliates, and proposals for action. It includes a briefing on do it yourself research including body and hazard mapping, and a...
14 January, 2020
Workers at Grand Central Bakery in Portland, Ore. Join Local 114
(Below article is excerpted from a Dec. 18 article by NW Labor Press) Workers who make bread for Grand Central Bakery in Portland, Ore. voted to join BCTGM Local 114 on December 12 in an election held by the National Labor Relations Board. The 29-to-9 vote affirmed what the workers had told management three weeks earlier: Local 114 has the support of a majority of the workers at the companyโs wholesale bakery. Workers who make bread...
19 December, 2019
President Durkee Praises Efforts of Worker Champions in Congress
The BCTGM offers our deepest gratitude to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal, and Senators Sherrod Brown and Ron Wyden for their tireless efforts to ensure that the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is a victory for American workers. "They truly are champions for American workers and stood strong throughout this long process as the labor movement continued to demand a truly enforceable trade agreement," reflects BCTGM International President David...
11 December, 2019
BCTGM Supports AFL-CIO Endorsement of USMCA
Today, the AFL-CIO endorsed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). For nearly two years, the labor movement has been at the forefront in renegotiating NAFTA. The BCTGM worked extensively with the AFL-CIO throughout this process to help secure a trade deal that benefits working people and supports good, middle-class jobs in the U.S. and Canada. For the first time, there truly will be enforceable labor standardsโincluding a process that allows for the inspections of factories...
10 December, 2019
AFL-CIO Retirement Security Working Group statement on the Grassley-Alexander Multiemployer Pension Plan Proposal
On November 20, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced a proposal โto avert the collapse of critically underfundedโ union pension plans. This plan comes as a white paper in order to solicit comment ahead of an actual bill being introduced, the timing of which is unclear at this time. Today, the AFL-CIO Retirement Security Working Group released a statement...
02 December, 2019