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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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12.5 Million Americans: the number of people that the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) estimates will be effected by President Obamaโ€™s changes to the overtime rule. Under the direction of President Obama, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will update the threshold for salaried workers who automatically qualify for overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week. โ€œWeโ€™re making more workers eligible for the overtime that youโ€™ve earned. And itโ€™s one of the single most important...

18 May, 2016

โ€œIt was a lonely, sad ride home and a day I will never forget," recalls Michael Smith, one of the โ€œNabisco 600โ€ laid off on March 23 from the Southside Chicago Mondelฤ“z bakery. ย "At 59 years of age, I basically have to learn how to reinvent myself in todayโ€™s job market.โ€ย  Smith was a spokesperson for the โ€œNabisco 600โ€ during a media teleconference launching the AFL-CIO's PayWatch 2016.ย Mondelez International is highlighted on the Executive PayWatch website...

17 May, 2016

New federal requirements take effect August 10, 2016 WASHINGTON โ€“ The U.S. Department of Laborโ€™s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today issued aย final ruleย to modernize injury data collection to better inform workers, employers, the public and OSHAย about workplace hazards. With this new rule, OSHA is applying the insights of behavioral economics to improve workplace safety and prevent injuries and illnesses. OSHA requires many employers to keep a record of injuries and illnesses to help these employers and...

11 May, 2016

The BCTGM stands in solidarity with the entire labor movement in opposing the package of Detroit Public School related bills passed by the Michigan House of Representatives. The fact that these bills target only Detroit with unpopular and untested education experiments and anti-union measures shows this is not about whatโ€™s best for the children of Detroitโ€”itโ€™s about how the Michigan House can exert power over the people of Detroit. These bills include some of the most despicable...

09 May, 2016

At 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 5, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a package of right-wing bills to punish teachers and students in Detroit. Gov. Rick Snyder must veto it. Make no mistake: These bills discriminate against Detroitโ€™s childrenโ€”who are overwhelmingly economically disadvantaged children and children of colorโ€”and are designed explicitly to punish teachers who speak up on behalf of their students and themselves. Many of the so-called teacher-related provisions have failed and been rejected...

09 May, 2016

Deception seems to be the name of the game at Volkswagen. As if the diesel emissions scandal wasnโ€™t enough, Volkswagen is now deceiving working people at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Workers in the skilled trades division of the plant last year voted overwhelmingly to join the UAW to create a better workplace. Volkswagen executives promised to respect the workersโ€™ vote, but now the company is going back on its word. Volkswagen is refusing to negotiate with...

06 May, 2016

Motherโ€™s Day is May 8ย and what better way to celebrate then with a giftย that also carries the union label. Labor 411,ย the union business directory from theย Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, has put together an abundance of union-made ideas to help you out. One of the top picks for Mom could beย fine ย BCTGM-made chocolate fromย Ghirardelli or See's Candies. Other Mother's Day ideas the union-made way include beauty products like:ย  Caress skin care Dove beauty care L'Orรฉal Revlon Additionally, through BCTGM Power/Union Plus,...

04 May, 2016

(Washington, DC, April 27, 2016) โ€“ More than 4,820 workers were killed on the job in 2014, according to a new report by the AFL-CIO. Additionally an estimated 50,000-60,000 died from occupational diseases, resulting in a daily loss of nearly 150 workers from preventable workplace injuries and illnesses. โ€œWorking people should not have to risk their lives to make a living and support their families,โ€ said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. โ€œYet every day, millions of Americans...

27 April, 2016

Americaโ€™s largest one-day food drive is Saturday, May 14. Help your letter carriers #StampOutHunger! The 24th Annucalย Letter Carriersโ€™ ( NALC) Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Last yearโ€™s drive collected more than 70 million pounds of non-perishable food. This is the 24th annual drive. All food collected stays local. For nearly a quarter century, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) has led an extraordinary effort to end hunger in America through its โ€œStamp Out Hunger Food Drive.โ€ This is the...

21 April, 2016

It has been more than a year and a half since workers at three Chicago-area Lifeway Foods facilities overcame a vicious anti-union campaign and voted overwhelmingly to join the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM). Since that time, Lifeway executives, including CEO Julie Smolyansky, have refused to negotiate a first union contract with BCTGM Local 1 (Chicago) and continue to violate federal labor law. In November 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)...

08 April, 2016

The Chicago Tribune published this joint commentary by BCTGM International President David B. Durkee and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on March 29.ย  Oreos are incredibly popular, one of America's top guilty pleasures. But we soon might not be able to stomach them, if the iconic cookies don't sustain good jobs in the United States. As part of the relentless killing of American manufacturing, Nabisco plans to cut in half the workforce at its largest domestic bakery, in Chicago,...

29 March, 2016

March 23/Erin Johansson If an entire industry existed with the sole purpose of interfering with a federally protected right, isnโ€™t it common sense that our federal government should want to keep tabs on it? Thankfully, the Obama administration just released a rule that will step up federal monitoring of employers who hire unionbusting consultants. Unionbusters profit from telling companies how to stop working people from coming together in union to improve their workplaces. When faced with an...

24 March, 2016

Some safety incentive programs are โ€œespecially problematic with ergonomic issues,โ€ according to OSHAโ€™s deputy director. Jordan Barab told attendeesย at the 19th annual Applied Ergonomics Conference in Orlando that itโ€™s difficult to hide an injury like a broken leg, but itโ€™s not as hardย to hide a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD). Barab continued a dialog on safety incentive programs that resurfaced when OSHA proposed revisions to its guidelines for Safety Management Systems. In those guidelines, OSHA said companies shouldnโ€™t use safety...

23 March, 2016

KENSINGTON, Md. - Today, the BCTGMย - which represents nearly 4,000 members at Mondelฤ“z International, maker of Nabisco snack products - announced in response to the layoff of the first 277 workers at the Southside Nabisco Chicago Bakery, an escalation in its efforts to promote its โ€œCheck the Labelโ€ campaign, encouraging American consumers to reject Nabisco products made in Mexico and instead, buy those that are produced in America in support of American jobs. BCTGM will...

23 March, 2016

Workers at Lifeway Foods Inc. facilities in Chicago voted to join BCTGM Local 1 (Chicago) a year and a half ago but remain without a union contract as the company refuses to negotiate with the union. And despite a 2015 order by theย the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the company will notย bargain in good faith. Taking matters into their own hands, Local 1, with assistance from the International Union, has launched a ย campaign to bring this...

14 March, 2016