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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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At the IUF 27th World Congress in Geneva, Switzerland, the BCTGM delegation was among 518 delegates representing 216 ย labor organizations from 90 countries around the world. BCTGM International President David Durkee spoke on behalf of Resolution #8, "Strengthening the IUF Divisions and Company-Wide Union Networks,โ€ specifically advocating the proposed "IUF Food Processing Division." In his remarks, Durkee reminded the Congress that in the past, every IUF affiliate union has been forced to go up against multimillion dollar...

30 August, 2017

Today,ย IUF President Hans-Olof Nilsson openedย the 27th IUF World Congress in Geneva, Switzerland. BCTGM International delegates to the Congress include BCTGM International President David Durkee, International Secretary-Treasurer Steve Bertelli, Assistant to the International President Harry Kaiser and Local 53 President and BCTGM International General Executive Board member Joyce Alston. The week began with IUF Women, Young Workers and LGBTI Conferences. It was the first time the IUF has held a Young Workers Conference before the opening of...

29 August, 2017

by Celeste Drake, AFL-CIO Trade and Globalization Policy Specialist By now, youโ€™ve probably heard of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). You might have heard that someย businesspeopleย think itโ€™s a great deal, whileย average working familiesโ€”and those whoย stand with usโ€”think it only works if youโ€™re already at the top. If youโ€™ve been reading our blog regularly, then you know NAFTA is beingย renegotiated. That means working people like us have an opportunity toย fix it. And we laid out the...

23 August, 2017

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on his and Thea Leeโ€™s resignation from President Trumpโ€™s council on manufacturing: We cannot sit on a council for a President who tolerates bigotry and domestic terrorism. President Trumpโ€™s remarks today repudiate his forced remarks yesterday about the KKK and neo-Nazis. We must resign on behalf of Americaโ€™s working people, who reject all notions of legitimacy of these bigoted groups. Itโ€™s clear that President Trumpโ€™s Manufacturing Council was never an effective...

16 August, 2017

BCTGM International President David Durkee released the following statement in response to the Senate Democratsโ€™ unveiling of the โ€œBetter Deal on Trade and Jobsโ€ economic plan. โ€œThe BCTGM commends the leadership of Senator Schumer and the Senate Democrats for crafting the โ€œBetter Dealโ€ economic blueprint for Americaโ€™s workers with trade and jobs at its core. The BCTGM has long believed that Congress needs to take bold and comprehensive action to revitalize Americaโ€™s middle class. Unfair trade agreements...

03 August, 2017

In the early hours of this morning, Senate Republicans held a dramatic vote on their last ditch effort to to undo the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and gut Medicaid.ย The so-called โ€œSkinny Repealโ€ would have repealed the ACAโ€™s individual mandate and suspended the employer mandate for nine years, disrupting insurance markets and eliminating access to health care for 16 million Americans. Republican Senators Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and John McCain (AZ) joined all 48 Democrats...

28 July, 2017

Twenty years ago, Nikeโ€™s name was synonymous with sweatshop abuses. Reports abounded ofย Indonesian workers earning 14 cents an hour โ€“ less than minimum wage โ€“ and Vietnameseย workers who were hit with shoe parts, sexually assaulted, and forced to run outside until theyย collapsed. By 1998, iconic Nike CEO Phil Knight had acknowledged that, โ€œtheย Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse.โ€ย While Nike has trumpeted its corporate socialย responsibility operation for the past fifteen...

24 July, 2017

BCTGM International staff joined hundreds of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and AFSCME members and Democratic members of Congress outside the U.S. Capitol to rally in opposition to Republicansโ€™ Trumpcare bill and budget proposal which would strip funding from students, teachers, nurses and health workers. The rally was organized by the AFT and led by AFT President Randiย Weingarten.ย  Congressional speakers denounced the proposed budget cuts, which would fall heavily on schools and other vital social services....

20 July, 2017

Approximatelyย 87 percent of workersย receive no paid family leave, a problem that BCTGM and other advocates for working families have been pushing elected officials to address for years. The issue finally emerged as a policy focus in last yearโ€™s presidential elections. In a July 10ย letter to the president, more than 100 congressional Democrats urged President Donald Trump to supportย legislationย providing working families with 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave โ€œthat is sustainable, affordable, and inclusive.โ€ They...

18 July, 2017

Freedom means more than making a living. It means the ability to financially support your family and have time to be there for them. Check out AFSCME's new video with President Lee Saunders explaining how corporate interest groups are working tirelessly to chip away at the freedoms that unions have won for everyone. ...

13 July, 2017

The BCTGM is proud to present the full six-minute cut of our short form documentary, โ€œMade in America,โ€ detailing the plight of our members at the iconic Nabisco/Mondelฤ“z bakery in Chicago. This public television segment, produced by Front Page, will air to over 50 million TV homes across the country for one full year and we want our members, their families and all of our supporters to be the first to see it! Click here to...

10 July, 2017

For BCTGM members who have dedicated their working lives to hard and physically demanding jobs, a defined benefit pension plan is key to the foundation for a financially secure and dignified retirement. This is why the BCTGM places the highest priority on preserving and strengthening our membersโ€™ pensions. Whether it is the highly-respected multi-employer B&C Pension Fund, covering nearly 110,000 active and retired members and which has paid out more than $12.5 billion in benefits since...

06 July, 2017

Five years ago, President Barack Obama started a program protecting immigrants who came to America as children. Today, thousands of hardworking aspiring citizens have been able to reach their dreams thanks to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA. โ€œWe need everyone in our country to be able to live and work without fear,โ€ said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. 95%: Thatโ€™s how many of the nearly 1 million DACA enrollees are employed or enrolled...

16 June, 2017

Posted by Celeste Drake on the AFL-CIO Blog The North American Free Trade Agreement is typically called a "trade deal," but in realityย itโ€™s not much about trade. Its hundreds of pages of set rules for how the United States, Mexico and Canada can run their economies. Those rules give global corporations strong rights and privilegesย but donโ€™t contain a single provision to ensure more jobs, better wages, clean air and water, affordable medicines, or any of the...

14 June, 2017

When President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act on June 10, 1963, women made only 60 cents on the dollar for doing the same job as a man. The gap has narrowed in the intervening years, but pay is not yet equal and wages have been held down for women and men alike. We must erase the wage gap by raising pay for all working people. Lift All for Equality The pay gap narrows when...

09 June, 2017