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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 from the AFL-CIO: The growing movement for a living wage and justice for fast-food and other low-wage workers will reach another milestone next week with a nationwide strike set for Aug. 29. Following the success and public support of a walkout in eight cities earlier this month, those workers and the community, faith and labor groups that back them are calling on fast-food and low-wage retail workers across the nation to join them in the fight for $15...

26 August, 2013

WASHINGTON – Preliminary results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries released on August 22 show a reduction in the number of fatal work injuries in 2012 compared with 2011. Last year, 4,383 workers died from work-related injuries, down from a final count of 4,693 fatal work injuries in 2011. Based on preliminary counts, the rate of fatal workplace injuries in 2012 was 3.2 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, down from...

22 August, 2013

We have built a new section onto our website just for you – the BCTGM Stewards Corner. The job of a steward is one of the most challenging, most rewarding and most important jobs in our union.  That’s because union stewards are on the front lines of our fight to develop a strong, active union in the workplace. Stewards have an enormous impact on our members’ faith and belief in the union. The steward is the one...

22 August, 2013

[caption id="attachment_3473" align="alignleft" width="553" caption="BCTGM Intl. Pres. David Durkee (pictured far right) marches with L. 1 officers to protest ALEC's 40th Anniversary Meeting in Chicago. "][/caption] BCTGM International President David Durkee joined with members of BCTGM Local 1, the Chicago Federation of Labor and various allies at a rally to protest the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC's) 40th Anniversary Meeting in Chicago. ALEC is leading conservative efforts to roll back the rights of working families. From the Chicago...

08 August, 2013

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is now fully staffed and able to continue to function to protect workers’ rights after the U.S. Senate on July 30 confirmed five members. The votes end a months-long blockade on President Obama’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 Obama’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 – 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: “This 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 Kalamazoo 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 baker’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.  The NLRB found that Panera broke...

19 June, 2013

Prime Example of Why the Senate Must Confirm Obama’s Board Nominees  This is how hope turns into despair. 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.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that Panera broke the...

13 June, 2013

NPR Nearly 180 people — including 18 teenagers — 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 today’s shareholder meeting of Mondelēz International (formerly Kraft Foods) near Chicago. At today’s Mondelēz International's shareholder meeting, the IUF, the international union body representing food workers worldwide, and unions representing the company’s North American employees, raised concerns about human rights abuses in the company’s overseas operations. Many Mondelēz-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 the Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAWA) (S. 665) in an effort to strengthen the nation’s occupational safety protections.  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