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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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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

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. โ€œCollege 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

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

(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 companyโ€™s wholesale bakery. Workers who make bread...

19 December, 2019

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

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 standardsโ€”including a process that allows for the inspections of factories...

10 December, 2019

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 โ€œto 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

In Portland, Maine on a recent chilly Saturday morning, BCTGM Local 334 Business Agent John Jordan held a special meeting for Local 334 retirees. The purpose of that meeting? To explain the Butch Lewis Act of 2019 (S. 2254) and the importance of contacting U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) to urge her support of the legislation. It is crucial that ALL BCTGM members and retirees across the country contact their Senators and urge them to support...

15 November, 2019

In early October, maintenance workers at the new Purina pet food plant in Hartwell, Ga. voted to join BCTGM Local 42 (Atlanta). This organizing win followed the successful election of quality control workers at the Fairburn, Ga. pet food facility, also represented by Local 42. The Hartwell plant opened in early 2018 as a distribution center while the production facility was being built. In May 2018, workers at the new plant reached out to the BCTGM...

08 November, 2019

Make your Halloween celebrations and festivities ones that support the hard work of BCTGM members by filling your cauldrons and treat bags with these BCTGM-made treats!  ...

30 October, 2019

Retired BCTGM Local 6 (Philadelphia) members, Mine Workers, IBEW, Teamsters and other union retirees from across the country gathered on Capitol Hill on October 16 to urge Senate actionย to protect the pensions that workers have earned. Democratic Senators at the press conference included U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI),Patty Murray (D-WA), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). โ€œYou have Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, and...

17 October, 2019

The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act has passed a major milestone and was voted out of committee. Now, itโ€™s poised for a vote on the floor of the U.S. House. But the fight isnโ€™t over. We need members of Congress to keep up the momentum to get the PRO Act passed. Help us keep up the pressure: Please add your voice and ask your representative to become a co-sponsor of H.R....

16 October, 2019

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor advanced theย Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, H.R. 2474, a bold proposal to ensure American workers can organize and negotiate for higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions. In response to rising income inequality that is leaving workers and middle-class families behind, theย PRO Actย would empower millions of Americans to stand together and negotiate for a fair share of the profits they produce. A recent...

26 September, 2019

BCTGM International staff gathered outside the U.S. Capitol with Federal and DC government employees to protest the Trump administration's war on federal workers. AFGE, NFFE, NTEU, and IFPTE hosted the Day of Action to protest the Trump Administrationโ€™s efforts to undermine federal employee unions. "We're taking to the streets because we're fed up with baseless attacks on the American worker, fed up with retaliation against whistleblowers, fed up with bad-faith bargaining at the negotiating table, and...

24 September, 2019

We need a labor secretary who is truly committed to upholding the Departmentโ€™s missionโ€”โ€œto foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.โ€ Eugene Scalia has fought against workersโ€™ interests his whole career. As a corporate lawyer, Scalia has a long track record of putting corporate interests above workersโ€™ rights, and undermining worker...

17 September, 2019