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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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BCTGM International President David Durkee was among labor leaders from across the country who gathered in New Orleans last week as part of the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council meeting to map out the path ahead for labor. From trade and public education to equal pay and paid leave to back pay for federal contract workers and bargaining power for all, the Executive Council discussed issues that will define working people’s fight for economic justice in 2019...

21 March, 2019

The BCTGM was among a delegation representing the IUF to deliver letters of protest to the Myanamar Embassy in Washington D.C. demanding the release of six hotel workers jailed for union activity in Myanamar. On March 1, the chairman and five other leaders and members of the union of workers at the Hotel Tharabar Gate in Myanamar's Bagan Archeological Zone were convicted of attempting to hold a peaceful protest march after police brutally destroyed the union's...

14 March, 2019

A four-year fight to expand overtime pay to millions of workers may soon be over and about 1.2 million workers will win while 2.8 million will lose. The Department of Labor is scaling back an Obama-era rule that would have doubled the minimum salary for a worker to qualify for overtime pay, according to a proposed rule the agency sent to the Office of the Federal Register for public review. With few exceptions, only workers who earn...

09 March, 2019

James Morgan, BCTGM Local 1 (Chicago) member and former Hostess Brands mixer and oven operator, was invited to testify before the House Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions on March 7.  Specifically,  the subject of the hearing that Morgan was asked to address was, "The Cost of Inaction: Why Congress Must Address the Multiemployer Pension Crisis." BCTGM International President David Durkee, Assistant to the International President Harry Kaiser and B&C...

08 March, 2019

Today, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) launched a national education investment campaign called Fund Our Future . Educators, parents, students and their communities understand the importance of public education and public post-secondary education. Their frustration over the lack of sufficient investment has sparked the activism sweeping the nation. The walkouts and funding fights in states such as West Virginia, Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma, and cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, have been inspirational. AFT members...

04 March, 2019

It is vital that Congress address the nation’s growing pension funding crisis. The BCTGM has been a leader in the effort to secure federal legislation to address the country’s growing pension funding crisis -- which affects virtually every BCTGM member with a collectively bargained pension.  Last year, the BCTGM worked extremely hard in support of legislation that strengthens pension plans and avoids retiree benefit reductions through long-term, low-interest loans. While enormous progress was made, Congress did...

06 February, 2019

On April 17, 2018 at Cargill-Turkey in Bursa-Orhangazi, 14 union activists were unfairly dismissed from their jobs on while organizing a union. This is not the first time Cargill management in Turkey has fired workers for attempting to exercise their rights. In 2015, a court ruled that workers were unfairly dismissed for trying to organize a union at the same plant. Turkey's legal system, however, offers an escape route: as an alternative to reinstating workers who...

06 February, 2019

Since 1962, the International Union has helped fulfill the educational dreams of students and union members throughout North America through the BCTGM International Scholarship Program. The 2019 BCTGM International Scholarship Program will award five $2,000 one-time scholarship awards. At least one of the five scholarships is designated for a Canadian union member. One of the five scholarships may be awarded to an active member of BCTGM. Interested individuals should note that the International Union Scholarship Office must...

23 January, 2019

Are You Part of the Solution to Preserve Your Pension? Do you want to be? History of HOOP or the Hands Off Our Pensions Coalition For nearly three years the BCTGM has been engaged in a fight to preserve retiree pensions at Mondelez/Nabisco. In the last year, retirees have been a large part of the effort and have participated by climbing onto buses to attend rallies, shareholder meetings and protests at the homes and offices of corporate...

16 January, 2019

BCTGM International Secretary Treasurer Steve Bertelli, Assistant to the International President Harry Kaiser and Director of Research & Education Matthew Clark were among U.S. postal workers and supporters who rallied outside the Canadian embassy in Washington D.C. today to protest the Canadian Liberal government’s decision to legislate Canadian Postal Workers back to work. The rally, led by Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union and the National Association of Letter Carriers, was organized as...

15 January, 2019

On the 20th day of the shutdown of the Federal Government by President Trump and the Congressional Republicans, the BCTGM International officers and staff joined thousands of government workers and labor activists outside AFL-CIO headquarters to demand an end to the lockout of 800,000 civil servants. About a dozen union workers spoke during the rally held outside AFL-CIO headquarters. The workers were employed at numerous government agencies, including the Justice Department, the Federal Aviation Administration, the...

11 January, 2019

Today marks Day 17 of the government shutdown, now tied for the second-longest ever, and yet no votes to reopen the government are scheduled in the Senate. The AFL-CIO has called on all senators to reject consideration of any bills or business unrelated to opening the government. Every day that the government remains closed, more than 800,000 federal employees in all 50 states—from federal air marshals to Smithsonian cafeteria workers—go without pay. The House of Representatives passed...

07 January, 2019

Seventy years ago today, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Translated into more than 500 languages, it recognized that “the inherent dignity and...

10 December, 2018

The IUF has secured a global agreement on workers’ rights and organizing recognition with Unilever. IUF General Secretary Sue Longley, IndustriALL Global Union General Secretary Valter Sanches and Unilever CEO Paul Polman signed a joint memorandum on union rights and recognition at the regular bi-annual meeting between the Unilever and the global union federations. The Memorandum of Understanding formalizes the engagement process and establishes a permanent platform for: ensuring that throughout Unilever's worldwide operations workers can freely exercise their...

07 December, 2018

BCTGM Local 351 in Albuquerque, New Mexico is the picture of labor union activism. From organizing new workers, political action and membership education, to offering unfaltering support to other labor campaigns, the officers and members of Local 351 exemplify trade union activism. In October, under the leadership of President/Business Agent Andrew Gutierrez, Local 351 was able to organize a non-union distribution center at the Bimbo Bakeries U.S.A. offices in Albuquerque. The workers at the facility signed...

07 December, 2018