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Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
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The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is now fully staffed and able to continue to function to protect workersโ€™ rights after the U.S. Senate on July 30 confirmed five members. The votes end a months-long blockade on President Obamaโ€™s nominees by Senate Republicans who threatened to shut the board down August 27. The five members are current NLRB Chairman Mark Pearce; Nancy Schiffer, a former AFL-CIO associate general counsel; and NLRB attorney Kent Hirozawa, currently the...

01 August, 2013

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) Federal regulators have proposed $193,300 in fines for a Billings, Mont. sugar plant after inspectors discovered 17 health and safety violations. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Monday that The Western Sugar Cooperative has 15 days to contest the agency's findings. Among the alleged violations, 12 were considered serious enough to raise the probability of workers being killed or seriously injured. Those included inadequate fire exits, failure to provide railings...

29 July, 2013

AFL-CIO Although it took an eleventh hour deal, a shimmer of light has broken through the extreme Republican obstruction in the Senate. It is finally time to end the unprecedented blocking of President Obamaโ€™s nominees, which has spanned more than 700 days. More important, a confirmed National Labor Relations Board will provide millions of workers with real protection of their rights to organize and bargain with their employers. Our founding fathers granted the Senate the power to...

17 July, 2013

Kensington, MD, July 12, 2013 โ€“ Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) President David B. Durkee issued the following statement in response to the impending re-entry by Hostess Brands, LLC into the snack cake market: โ€œThis coming week, Hostess Brands, LLC is expected to re-enter the wholesale snack cake market. Despite the fanfare, the long-term viability of this effort is highly uncertain. Rather than hire professional, experienced bakers who have produced quality...

12 July, 2013

AFL-CIO For 78 years, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has safeguarded the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain to improve their wages, benefits and workplace environment. Next month, the NLRB’s power to protect more than 80 million private-sector workers could be further limited when the term of one of the current members is set to expire, leaving the board inoperable and without a quorum. Frustrated by Republican attempts to prevent a vote on President...

09 July, 2013

KALAMAZOO (WKZO) -- Union members gathered to protest outside the Panera Bread location on West Main in Kalamazooย Friday. Many Panera workers in Michigan voted over a year ago to form a collective bargaining unit as a part of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, but Battle Creek Panera baker Kathleen Von Eitzen says the franchise owner is refusing to recognize them. Former employee Kyle Schilling says he was fired after refusing to...

21 June, 2013

The Panera bakerโ€™s story affects everyone in America who cares about their right to stand up for themselves at work: More than a year since they voted to form a union, Panera workers in Michigan are still waiting. The franchisee that owns the Panera Bread stores in the region refused to recognize the BCTGM as the official representative of the bakers and refused to meet to bargain a first contract.ย  The NLRB found that Panera broke...

19 June, 2013

Prime Example of Why the Senate Must Confirm Obamaโ€™s Board Nominees ย This is how hope turns into despair.ย More than a year since they voted to form a union, Panera workers in Michigan are still waiting. The franchisee that owns the Panera Bread stores in the region refused to recognize theย BCTGMย as the official representative of the bakers and refused to meet to bargain a first contract.ย  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that Panera broke the...

13 June, 2013

NPR Nearly 180 people โ€” including 18 teenagers โ€” have been killed in grain-related entrapments at federally regulated facilities across 34 states since 1984, records show. Their employers were issued a total of $9.2 million in fines, though regulators later reduced the penalties overall by 59 percent. Click here to read about these incidents by state on NPR.com  ...

05 June, 2013

AFL-CIO Brandon Rees, acting director of the AFL-CIO Office of Investment, sends this report from todayโ€™s shareholder meeting of Mondelฤ“z International (formerly Kraft Foods) near Chicago. At todayโ€™s Mondelฤ“z International'sย shareholder meeting, the IUF, the international union body representing food workers worldwide, and unions representing the companyโ€™s North American employees, raised concerns about human rights abuses in the companyโ€™s overseas operations. Many Mondelฤ“z-branded cookies and crackers are produced by union members, including Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz and Triscuit. In...

21 May, 2013

Forty-two years have passed since the Occupational Safety Health (OSH) Act was signed into law. Now, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has reintroduced theย Protecting Americaโ€™s Workers Act (PAWA) (S. 665) in an effort to strengthen the nationโ€™s occupational safety protections.ย  She calls the legislation "a long-overdue update to the OSH Act, and a good step towards making workplaces safer and healthier across America." PAWA works to address workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths. Specifically, PAWA would expand OSH...

09 May, 2013

In 2011, 4,693 workers were killed on the job, according to a new AFL-CIO report, โ€œDeath on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.โ€ That is an average of thirteen workers every day. In addition, another estimated 50,000 die every year from occupational diseases โ€“ an average of 137 a day, bringing the total worker fatalities to 150 a day.ย  North Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska and Arkansas had the highest workplace fatality rates, while New Hampshire, Rhode...

07 May, 2013

BCTGM represented bakers can be found in Safeway bakeries from coast to coast. From intricately decorated cakes for every special occasion, to delectable fruit pies and gourmet cookies, the union bakers take pride in the products they provide. Featuredย here are the dedicated and proud bakers of Local 85 (Sacramento, Calif.) in Safeway bakeries in Fairfield and Sacramento, California. [caption id="attachment_3230" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Debra Colvin decorates a special order cake at the Fairfield bakeryKristopher Brady (left) and Kent...

03 May, 2013

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), crippled by a January court ruling against two recess appointees, has the potential to get back to full strength if the Senate confirms nominations President Barack Obama made April 9. Previous attempts to fill the NLRB have failed over congressional opposition to Board actions and Obama's nominees. The President's move to nominate a full five members to the Board comes on the heels of a possible vote in the House...

01 May, 2013

"MARKET GAINS PUMP CEO PAY โ€“ Corporate chiefs pull in $50 million or more" - USA Today, 3/21/13 "Last year I attended a Thanksgiving dinner at Harris Elementary Schoolโ€ฆin Decatur (IL), where I learned that 92 percent of the kids are on free or reduced-cost lunches."ย  โ€”Howard G. Buffett, leading advocate for U.S. and global hunger relief and son ofย  Warren Buffett, USA Today, 12/2/12 __________________________________________ Corporate CEOโ€™s take home tens of millions of dollars a year and...

30 April, 2013