News Blog
Representing manufacturing, production, maintenance and sanitation workers in the baking, confectionery, tobacco and grain milling industries.
bctgm, bakers union, tobacco union, candy union, food workers, food workers union, grain millers, grain millers union, mondelez, nabisco, snack union,
19449
blog,paged,paged-47,bridge-core-2.5.9,qode-page-transition-enabled,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode-title-hidden,qode-theme-ver-24.4,qode-theme-bridge,disabled_footer_bottom,qode_header_in_grid,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-7.9,vc_responsive,elementor-default,elementor-kit-9096

November 21, 2012 – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a Summary Judgment against Bread of Life d/b/a Panera Bread in South Western Michigan.  The Judgment states the company violated Sections 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act (ACT) by refusing to recognize and bargain with the BCTGM Local 70 (Grand Rapids, Mich.).  On February 24, 2012, after a full and complete hearing on a petition filed by the BCTGM Local 70...

04 December, 2012

Jackie Tortura, AFL-CIO For the fourth time, locked-out American Crystal Sugar workers rejected an identical contract offer from the management company. The workers are members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM). American Crystal Sugar workers have gone 16 months without a contract.  Susan Sylvester, a Crookston, Minn., resident who has worked at the company for 37 years, told the Huffington Post: Our families, they’ve really suffered great hardship, especially the ones with little kids...

03 December, 2012

A federal bankruptcy judge has approved bonuses for executives of Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, who stay on as the company is broken up and sold off. On Thursday, as part of a plan to liquidate the company and lay off 18,000 workers, a federal judge in White Plains, N.Y., approved paying 19 Hostess executives bonuses totaling $1.8 million. Hostess has said it has interest from at least 110 firms who want to buy pieces of...

30 November, 2012

"There is this narrative that the union talked us into voting for it, and we are portrayed as a bunch of emotional children that can't make decisions. We knew what we were doing when we took concessions in 2005." Read the full TRUTHOUT interview with BCTGM Hostess worker Mike Hummel by Yana Kunichoff....

29 November, 2012

The following story was sent to us by a retired BCTGM Local 24 member. It is a true account of a dedicated bakery worker who grew up in and with Interstate Bakeries Corp. (IBC), in its various forms. Like his father before him, he spent his career working hard and supporting his family with good wages and the protection of a union contract. And like his father, he watched as the company was mismanaged and...

21 November, 2012

Today, 11/19/12, at 9:37 a.m. the BCTGM submitted the below document to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert D. Drain in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York, Hostess Brands Chapter 11 Case No. 12-22052 : JOINDER OF THE BAKERY, CONFECTIONERY, TOBACCO WORKERS AND GRAIN MILLERS INTERNATIONAL UNION IN OBJECTIONS TO DEBTORS’ EMERGENCY WINDDOWN MOTION AND MOTION PURUSUANT TO SECTION 1113(e) OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE   Click here to dowload the 16-page PDF...

19 November, 2012

Written by Richard Trumka for the Daily Kos This is the new American story, but someone finally stood up and said, “Stop!” Pundits should be applauding the Bakery Workers of Hostess Brands for standing up to Wall Street interests and standing for decent working standards and the middle class. The truth is that the Bain-style vulture capitalists invested in Hostess to profit not by making quality products, but by bleeding the company of every dollar before discarding it. They’re...

18 November, 2012

Download the full press release. Download an updated fact sheet. The following statement was issued by BCTGM International Union President Frank Hurt in response to the announcement by Hostess Brands that it would begin liquidation.   “Hostess’s announcement that it is liquidating the company is a deep disappointment for all of our Hostess members.  While Hostess management wants to blame our members for the demise of the company, the truth is that had it not been for the valiant...

18 November, 2012

More than 3,300 union members and activists from 125 countries have signed messages of solidarity sent through the IUF to the BCTGM members on strike against Hostess Brands. 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 of  336 trade unions from 120 countries that belong to the IUF, which represents more than 12 million workers. It is based in...

15 November, 2012

The following statement was issued by BCTGM International Union President Frank Hurt in response to claims by Hostess Brands that it would begin liquidation should union members not end the strike and return immediately to production facilities: “The crisis facing Hostess Brands is the result of nearly a decade of financial and operational mismanagement that resulted in two bankruptcies, mountains of debt, declining sales and lost market share.  The Wall Street investors who took over the...

15 November, 2012

Below are photos of Locked-Out American Crystal Sugar workers handing out boycott information in the Red River Valley last week.  Read more about their struggle here, and click here to sign the pledge to boycott American Crystal Sugar!   ...

14 November, 2012

In a desperate attempt to break the solidarity and resolve of striking BCTGM members across the country, Hostess Brands is falsely claiming that its decision to close three of its bakeries -- St. Louis, Cincinnati and Seattle -- is the result of the nationwide strike against the company by BCTGM members. In fact, according to the company’s 1113 filing with the bankruptcy court earlier this year as well as its last/best/final and non-negotiable proposal to its...

13 November, 2012

On Friday, November 9 BCTGM members employed by Hostess Brands across the country began to strike. These workers, many of whom have worked at Hostess and its predecessor companies for decades, are on strike in response to the company’s unilateral imposition of a horrendous contract that was rejected by 92 percent of BCTGM Hostess workers in September. NEW:November 16 Fact Sheet NEW: November 16 press statement from BCTGM International President Frank Hurt November 15 press statement from BCTGM...

13 November, 2012