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

As a candidate, President Donald Trump railed against the outsourcing of American jobs, using Carrier in Indianapolis as his prime example. The company has announced it will fire 632 workers by midsummer at the companyโ€™s Indianapolis factory and outsource the work to Mexico. The BCTGM joins with the AFL-CIO and the entire labor movement to demand that the president use renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement to level the playing field for American...

24 May, 2017

Today at 3 p.m. EST, 40,000 CWA workers at AT&T went on strike in 36 states and Washington D.C. Workers have been at the bargaining table for months fighting for good jobs against a company dead set on lining its pockets at the expense of the workers who make them billions. This will be the biggest strike in the United States since 40,000 Verizon workers walked out last year, and may be the biggest strike of...

19 May, 2017

While BCTGM members, Nabisco workers and scores of other union members and supporters protested the corporate greed and destructive business model of Nabisco/Mondelฤ“z outside the companyโ€™s annual shareholder meeting on May 17 in Lincolnshire, Ill., inside the meeting Mondelฤ“z shareholders, board members and corporate officers were repeatedly questioned about the companyโ€™s destructive business practices around the world. BCTGM Midwest Region International Vice President Jethro Head introduced an AFL-CIO shareholder proposal that urges the company to form...

19 May, 2017

Tomorrow morning, BCTGM Nabisco workers, union members, students and community allies will gather outside the Nabisco/Mondelฤ“z shareholders meeting in Lincolnshire, Ill. for a protest rally and mass demonstration to send a loud and clear message to the company: Workers and their families are more important than corporate profit margins. Can't join us tomorrow in Illinois? Then watch the LIVE STREAM beginning tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. EST by signing up: ย Facebook Event Pageย for details, updates and to...

16 May, 2017

Yale University wonโ€™t negotiate with its workers. Graduate teachers at Yale voted to form a union with Local 33โ€“UNITE HERE in February. Instead of coming to the negotiating table, Yale is trying to run out the clock until President Trump appoints his own anti-worker picks to the National Labor Relations Board who can take back the teachers' rights to organize and crush the union. The graduate teachers are fighting back and participating in an indefinite fast in protest...

15 May, 2017

Itโ€™s the eve of Motherโ€™s Day weekend, a great time for everyone to consider the foundational and ongoing role of women in Americaโ€™s labor movement. Without women, there would be no labor movement. Unionism is the best way to close the wage gap, which costs working women between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of their lifetimes. Americaโ€™s labor movement is committed to ending sexual assault and other forms of gender-based violence in the workplace, which...

12 May, 2017

What will you be doing ONE WEEK FROM TODAY onย May 17? The BCTGM International will be joined by hundreds of Nabisco/Mondelฤ“z workers, BCTGM local union members, supporters and activists for a mass demonstration outside the Mondelฤ“z Shareholders Meeting in Lincolnshire, Ill. If you can be in the Chicago area on May 17โ€“ please visit/promote/RSVP to our Facebook Event Page for details, updates and to be alerted for the LIVE STREAM on May 17. Please sign on to our...

10 May, 2017

Avoiding corporate income taxes is one way CEOs boost their companiesโ€™ profits and thereby increase their own pay. This corporate tax avoidance reduces the amount of money that is available for public goods like roads and schools. As a result, our economy increasingly has become out of balance. BCTGM Local 300 member and laid off Nabisco/Mondelฤ“z worker is highlighted on the AFL-CIO's 2017 PayWatch site as an example of the human cost of offshoring jobs. Mondelฤ“z International,...

09 May, 2017

Last year, Nabisco/Mondelฤ“z eliminated 600 good, middle-class jobs in Chicago in order to outsource Nabisco production to Mexico. And while workers in Mexico are paid only $1 per hour, Mondelฤ“z CEO Irene Rosenfeld averages nearly $20 million per year. So on May 17, when company decision makers gather for the annual Mondelฤ“z Shareholders Meeting in Lincolnshire, Ill., BCTGM Nabisco/Mondelฤ“z workers, BCTGM local unions, supporters and activists will be there to protest the companyโ€™s failed business model...

05 May, 2017

1 in 4: The number of Americans with pre-existing conditions who could suffer if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. Today, the vast majority of House Republicans voted to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which should be expanded, not discarded. The BCTGM joins with the AFL-CIO and the entire labor movement in our call toย Congress to create a health care system that works for working people. What You Need to Know: The Republican health care plan doubles down on...

04 May, 2017

On May 1, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) sent a letter to President Donald Trump outlining a four-point plan for securing the best deal for American workers as the administration prepares to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Brown, a true friend of labor and working families, has strongly opposed unfair trade deals for many years. Brown, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade deals, has been in close...

02 May, 2017

Together with the Mother Jones Museum and the Mother Jones Heritage Project, BCTGM Local 4 (St. Louis) participated in a special 180th Birthday celebration for the legendary Mother Jones. Retired BCTGM International Vice President Jeanne Graham, a life-long admirer of the legendary Mother Jones and a major supporter of the Mt. Olive, Ill.-based Mother Jones Museum, helped coordinate the creation of a BCTGM-made cake to commemorate the life of Mother Jones. Theย special 180th birthday cake was...

01 May, 2017