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

The leaders of the United States, Canada and Mexico held a signing ceremony last week at the G-20 summit to advance the “new NAFTA” agreement. But as politicians celebrated thousands of miles away, working people made clear that the job isn’t done. “Despite today’s theatrics, the work of fixing NAFTA is far from over,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “As it stands, this agreement has not earned the support of America’s working families. Without major improvements,...

03 December, 2018

As wildfires keep raging across California, the labor movement is taking action. Whether battling the fires directly, contributing resources or volunteering on the ground, union members are showing solidarity and demonstrating the tangible power of collective action. The fires are devastating Northern and Southern California, claiming at least 80 lives. Nearly 1,000 people still are unaccounted for, and thousands have lost their homes. More than 240,000 acres have burned, and full containment of the fires isn’t...

17 November, 2018

The AFL-CIO’s Labor 2018 program, in which the BCTGM and our members were actively engaged, was the driving force for victories for union-friendly candidates in key battleground states and congressional districts across the country. In many races, Union members and their families put labor-endorsed candidates over the top. Working people across the country helped send 900—and counting—union members to the halls of power. By putting working people in leadership roles, we will win better lives for...

09 November, 2018

Marriott is the largest and richest hotel company in the world and can set the standard for the global hotel industry. Marriott’s 13 billion dollar acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts in 2016 made it even larger, with 6,500 properties worldwide. Marriott is more than big enough to provide jobs that are safe and enough for workers to live on. 7,700 UNITE HERE Marriott Workers are on strike across the nation at 23 locations in Boston, San...

12 October, 2018

This is a blog post by AFL-CIO Trade and Globalization Policy Specialist Celeste Drake So, you may have heard that the North American Free Trade Agreement has been renegotiated. It’s definitely good that the three NAFTA countries (the United States, Canada and Mexico) are finally looking to change the NAFTA rules that have cost good jobs, made it harder to negotiate better wages, polluted our environment and generally left working people behind all across North America. But we’re...

04 October, 2018

NAFTA is being renegotiated because working people made clear that the original, failed, pro-corporate trade deal needed a rewrite to include better rules that put families and communities first. However, the USMCA is unfinished, and it’s too early to say whether it’s in the best interests of working people. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka released a full statement yesterday on the trade deal: "Added protections for working people and some reductions in special privileges for global companies is...

01 October, 2018

(This is a cross post originally published by the IUF) Led by the IUF, unions representing Coca-Cola workers around the world held a spirited demonstration on September 13 outside a Coca-Cola Company-sponsored conference on business and human rights at the company's global headquarters in Atlanta. Representatives from the BCTGM International Union and Local 42 (Atlanta) participated in the protest. [caption id="attachment_7043" align="alignright" width="320"] BCTGM Southern Reg. VP Anthony Shelton, Intl. Rep. Zach Townsend, IUF's Ron Oswald and IUF...

14 September, 2018

At the 2018 BCTGM International Convention, Union Plus Representative Nicole Rowe delivered a short presentation on how BCTGM members and their families can earn an Associate The Union Plus Free College Benefit offers working families an accessible, debt-free and convenient higher education opportunity. You, your spouse, children, financial dependents and grandchildren, can all take advantage of this exciting opportunity. Members and their families can earn an Associate Degree online, with no out-of-pocket costs. A last-dollar scholarship covers...

10 September, 2018

(This is a cross post from the IUF) Trade union representatives from 18 unions, 13 countries, and 6 continents gathered in Brussels on September 5 and 6 to develop union action to protect their members' futures at Mondelēz International. Defending trade union rights, combating job destruction and halting the growth of precarious work topped the meetings agenda. BCTGM Strategic Campaign Coordinator Ron Baker and Assistant to the Strategic Campaign Coordinator Nate Zeff  represented the BCTGM International Union...

10 September, 2018

Labor Day is the unofficial end of the summer holiday season. While the day honors the hardworking men and women who make this nation go and grow, the weekend also gives us a chance for one more big backyard barbecue blowout. Here’s some BCTGM-made goods to get your barbecue off to a great start. The products listed on these pages are just some of the BCTGM-made products and is not inclusive of every BCTGM Local or...

30 August, 2018

When Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders attacking the rights of federal government workers, he wasn’t prepared for the response from working people. Our response, led by AFGE, included filing lawsuits to stop the orders and rallying across the country in support of federal workers. Now a federal judge has agreed with working people that these executive orders are illegal. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ruled that key provisions of the three executive orders are...

29 August, 2018