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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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In its first hour online, the IUF's petition to Kellogg CEO John Bryant demanding an end to the lockout of BCTGM members at the Kellogg cereal plant in Memphis, Tenn. was signed by more than 3,500 members and activists from 125 countries. The IUF is an global federation of trade unions that represents workers employed in the agriculture, food and beverage and tobacco industries. The BCTGM is one ofย  336 trade unions from 120 countries that...

17 December, 2013

The holiday baking season is in full swing for BCTGM Local 114 members at the Fred Meyers bakery in Clackamas, Oregon where the union bakers produce hundreds of thousands of loaves, rolls, muffins and bagels daily to prepare for the holiday season. The bakery fills the shelves of more than 500 Fred Meyer stores, QFCs and other Kroger stores in five states. The bread line alone produces 30 different varieties, with most of the ingredients are sourced locally. Check...

05 December, 2013

The following letter was sent from Kellogg Company in Valls (Spain), in a show of solidarity with the locked-out workers in Memphis. [quote] Hello everyone. From the Kellogg Company in Valls (Spain), we want to give maximum support and encouragement to continue with your struggle, which is also ours. Certainly, and unfortunately, Kellogg is losing that much of what has been bragged about for many years. A company with these benefits cannot take this kind of attitude, deceiving the...

02 December, 2013

Last week, Reverend Dwight Montgomery, President of the Memphis Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), sent a letter to Kellogg CEOย John Bryant asking him to change his approach with the locked out workers of Local 252G: "This lockout is an unacceptable tactic designed to deprive families of income and medical coverage in an effort to force the changes you seek through the imposition of unwarranted economic duress on those who have served your company...

12 November, 2013

Last night at dusk, outside the Memphis, Tenn. Kellogg cereal plant, hundreds of locked out BCTGM Local 252G members were joined by members of the community in a prayer vigil Led in prayer by Minister Rev. Keith Norman of First Baptist Church, workers reiterated the message to Kellogg: we want to get back to work. More than 200ย BCTGM workers have been locked out since October 22 when the contract expired and management locked the doors. "We just...

08 November, 2013

In an October 30th Kellogg Company communication, the company reports the hiring of Edward Thompson as its new Vice President, Global Labor Relations. ย Thompson will oversee Kelloggโ€™s Center for Excellence and its initiatives, which is ย โ€œโ€ฆto further improve our labor and employee relationships around the world,โ€ the company states. โ€œIt is our hope that the treatment of the Memphis locked out employees is one of Thompsonโ€™s first priorities,โ€ said BCTGM International President David B. Durkee. ย BCTGM...

05 November, 2013

Join Memphis community groups as we pray for locked out Kellogg's workers and the economic well-being of our community. When? ย Thursday, November 7thย at 6 p.m. Where? ย Corner of N. Airways and Dunn Avenue (in front of Kellogg plant) Click here to download the flier (PDF) ...

04 November, 2013

On Monday, October 28, BCTGM International Union President David B. Durkee issued the following statement regarding the lockout of BCTGM Local 252G members by Kellogg in Memphis, Tenn.: โ€œThe work stoppage at Kelloggโ€™s Memphis plant is not a strike by workers who are demanding more from the company.ย  Kelloggโ€™s employees, most of whom have given decades of dedicated service to the company, want to work but have been locked out of their jobs by a company...

28 October, 2013

On Tuesday October 22, 2013 global cereal and snack giant Kellogg Company locked out workers represented by BCTGM Local Union 252G at the companyโ€™s Memphis cereal facility. The $14 billion dollar company wants to replace steady, middle-class, full-time jobs with casual, part-time employees who would make significantly lower wages and substandard benefits. This will hurt these working families, the Memphis community, and ultimately, the company. CLICK HERE to download a full Fact Sheet on the situation in...

25 October, 2013

President Durkee submitted a letter to the Food and Drug Administration yesterday in response to the agencyโ€™s advance notice of proposed rule-making related to the potential regulation of menthol in cigarettes. ย The letter reads as follows: Dear Sir or Madam: The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) submits this document in response to the agencyโ€™s advance notice of proposed rulemaking related to the potential regulation of menthol in cigarettes. The BCTGM represents approximately 85,000...

25 October, 2013

(This is a re-post from the AFL-CIO's Live Convention BLOG) Bankruptcy laws are rigged against working people. Employers, corporations and lenders often exploit these laws to weaken our retirement security, cut health care and leave young workers saddled with student loan debt, without the prospect of a good job or the ability to discharge the debt through bankruptcy. Look no further than the coal giantsย Peabody Energy and Arch Coal, which created Patriot Coal to shed their obligations...

10 September, 2013

โ€œIf we fight, we win,โ€ shouted Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) near the end of her keynote speech on the opening evening of the 2013 AFL-CIO Convention. โ€œReal reform isnโ€™t easy,โ€ Warren said to loud applause. โ€œUphill battles? You bet!โ€ ...

09 September, 2013

A delegation of BCTGM members will be attending theย AFL-CIO 2013 National Conventionย in Los Angeles from Sept. 8โ€“11. In the months leading up to the AFL-CIO Convention, the Federation posed significant questions about the future of the labor movement online and within communities during listening sessions. They have heard the ideas of rank-and-file members and activists from coast to coast on how we can build a more robust movement for working people now and in the future. Check...

05 September, 2013

Thomas E. Perez, the U.S. secretary of labor, sends you this message on Labor Day: Brother and Sisters, From the U.S. Department of Labor, where I proudly work in a building named for my great predecessor Frances Perkins, let me wish all of my friends in the AFL-CIO and your familiesโ€”wherever you areโ€”a safe, happy and healthy Labor Day. This Labor Day feels special in many ways: weโ€™re celebrating 100 years of the Labor Departmentโ€™s tireless efforts...

02 September, 2013