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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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This is a cross-post byย Angella MacEwen, an ย Economist at Canadian Labour Congress and a Broadbent Policy Fellow. The Alberta government has done it. On October 1st, the minimum wage increased by one dollar to $12.20 per hour, making it the highest provincial, but not territorial, minimum wage in Canada. In 2017 it will rise to $13.60, and finally to $15 in October 2018, meeting a key election campaign promise made by Rachel Notley's NDP. Whenever governments consider increasing minimum...

26 October, 2016

WHY ARE FOOD FLAVORINGS A PROBLEM FOR FOOD INDUSTRY WORKERS? Some chemicals may be present in food flavorings that can cause permanent lung damage when inhaled. This danger initially became public when federal investigators identified a serious lung disease in workers exposed to a chemical known as diacetyl, which is used in butter-flavored popcorn production. Workers are also at risk from airborne exposure to other flavoring chemicals used in various settings in the food industry, including...

26 October, 2016

Hear from Ladonna and Michael, our sister and brother from BCTGM Local 300,ย who lost their jobs to outsourcing and Nabisco's corporate greed. ...

21 October, 2016

This morning about 250 trade unionists and supportersย joined striking Local 6 members for a spirited rally across from the Just Born candy plant in Bethlehem, Pa. Participants of theย solidarity event included theย Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 13000, Steelworkers (USW) Local 2559, CWA District 2-13, Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 375, Teamsters (IBT) Local 773, ย as well as members of AFSCME and SEIU. Also present was the Northhampton County Democrats and the Democratic City Chair...

27 September, 2016

BCTGM Local Union Officers attending the annual BCTGM International Union's โ€œNew Officers Trainingโ€ program in Linthicum, Md. ย challenged their union membership working back in their respective plants to support the 400 striking members of BCTGM Local 6 at the Just Born plant in Bethlehem, Pa. The officers sent electronic copies of a DO NOT BUY flier urging union members and families to avoid buying Just Born candy products like Hot Tamales, Mike & Ike, and...

23 September, 2016

As 400 BCTGM Local 6 workers go on strike at Just Born in Bethlehem, Pa., the officers of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO made the following statements: โ€œThe Pennsylvania AFL-CIO stands in solidarity with the 400 workers on strike at Just Born.ย  These workers deserve to be recognized for their hard work and treated with dignity and respect, especially as Just Born has seen profits โ€˜off the chartsโ€™, according to the companyโ€™s CEO.ย  The companyโ€™s refusal to negotiate...

08 September, 2016

Horsham, Pa. โ€“ Four hundred BCTGM Local 6 members at Just Born Inc. in Bethlehem, Pa. unanimously voted to go on strike after rejecting the companyโ€™s last offer. Workers began taking their places on the picket line this afternoon. In contract negotiations that began in May, Just Born proposed eliminating the workersโ€™ pension plan, offered substandard market wage increases while increasing the workersโ€™ share of health insurance costs. While the Union proposed modifications to the health...

07 September, 2016

This is the story of AFL-CIO Executive Vice-President Tefere Gebre โ€” his life, and almost death. It's a story of the American Dream realized in the most dramatic way. ...

30 August, 2016

When workers at the Minneapolis-based Franklin Street Bakery had enough of management's unfair treatment, they reached out to BCTGM Local 22 for help in forming a union. But as soon as the company got word that workers were trying to unionize, they began harassing, threatening and intimidating them. Since its organizing drive began this spring, Local 22 has filed โ€œat least a dozenโ€ charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) againstย Franklin Street Bakery for violatingย workersโ€™...

29 August, 2016

August 3, 2016 - The following is a statement by AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler on the AFL-CIO Executive Councilโ€™s Working Women Economic Agenda: ย Women make up more than half of the U.S. electorate, and we vote at higher rates than men. From now until November, the AFL-CIO will be talking to women voters about the issues that impact them the most. We will have conversations with our friends and family on the doors, on the...

04 August, 2016

In the beginning, workers were not afraid. On the morning of January 11, sick of unsafe working conditions and unfair pay, dozens of workers at Portland Specialty Baking marched into the company presidentโ€™s office and asked for voluntary union recognition. [caption id="attachment_5711" align="alignright" width="300"] Current and former workers at Portland Specialty Baking, together with attorneys and supporters, announced a class action wage theft lawsuit on Aug. 8.[/caption] It was early 2015 that BCTGM Local 114 (Portland, Ore), with...

03 August, 2016

Today at the Democratic National Convention, BCTGM Local 300 member and laid off Nabisco worker Michael Smith was invited to address the DNC Labor Council on Organizing.ย In addition to Smith, the Council heard fromย Alicia Hamiel, a representative of the Fight For Fifteen movement; Ernesto Salazar, a car wash worker, and numerous political leaders united in theย call for higher wages and workers' rights. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered powerful remarks to the gathering as she reminded everyone:ย "you...

27 July, 2016

Today at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, BCTGM Local 300 member and laid-off Nabisco worker Michael Smith spoke before the National Democratic Seniors Coordinating Council. ย Part of the meeting included addressesย fromย Members of Congress, national senior citizen leaders and top officials from the DNC about Social Security, Medicare and the importance of the senior vote in 2016. Smith was invited to address the group concerningย the importance of retiree involvement in helping to change the nation's trade laws....

26 July, 2016