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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 single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." --Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, October 2010 It has been said that the first casualty of war is the truth. Much the same can be said about political campaigns, especially a presidential race. Between now and Election Day, the American people will be inundated with hundreds of millions of dollars of political television and radio ads designed to...

23 August, 2012

ย  After many years of struggle, Hyatt workers and allies launched a global boycott of Hyatt on July 23, 2012. Leaders from the AFL-CIO, the NFL Players Association, the National Organization of Women (NOW), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Netroots Nation, Interfaith Worker Justice, and more joined Hyatt housekeepers for the launch, which marks the largest escalation to date in an ongoing campaign for basic worker rights. Hyatt has singled itself out as the worst...

10 August, 2012

Audio available at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12103381/7-25press%20conference.mp3 (St. Paul, Minn., July 25) โ€“ Today AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka joined 1300 workers with the Bakery, Confectionery Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), who have been locked out of five processing facilities and other facilities of American Crystal Sugar, in announcing that the AFL-CIO and BCTGM are escalating their campaign for fairness and justice at the company. The lockout, which began on August 1, 2011, came in the...

25 July, 2012

CLC president Ken Georgetti published a letter in the Ottawa Citizen on July 18, 2012 in response to an opinion piece carried in the paper. In that article, Jonathan McLeod repeated the claim that is common in some business and political quarters that the imposition of so-called right-to-work legislation creates higher rates of growth in American states that use it. Georgetti challenged McLeodโ€™s research. In his opinion piece, Jonathan McLeod says bringing Southern U.S. state labour...

24 July, 2012

Kalamazoo, MI. โ€“ On June 28, 2012, three months after the majority of Bakers employed at Panera Bread Cafรฉs in the I-94 Corridor Division voted Union yes, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a federal complaint against the company.ย  After Panera Bakers voted yes to be represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union Local 70, both the company and the union filed unfair labor practice charges against one...

16 July, 2012

AFL-CIO If anyone thinks U.S. manufacturing isnโ€™t relevant to our lives today, they should consider this report from the Alliance for American Manufacturersย pointing to theย battle against raging wildfires in the western states: The Associated Press is reporting that the sole U.S. manufacturer of a device to spray airborne fire retardant is no longer in business. This means that while Air National Guard units currently possess Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems (MAFFS), new MAFFS systems are no longer being...

10 July, 2012

“I applaud the Supreme Court for upholding the Affordable Care Act.  American citizens finally won with this very important decision,” notes BCTGM International President Frank Hurt on the June 28 ruling. The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. upheld the core of President Obama's healthcare law, ruling that the government may impose tax penalties on those who do not have health insurance by 2014. The decision came on a 5-4 vote. The Affordable...

28 June, 2012

People are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of nutrition and how healthy pet foods can affect overall well-being of their pets.ย  So why not make sure pets are consuming union-made animal foods and treats? BCTGM members proudly produce pet products including Milk Bone and a wide variety of Nestlรฉ Purina products. Milk Bone BCTGM Local 36G members in Buffalo, N.Y. produce all brands of Milk Bone products at the companyโ€™s only factory in Buffalo.ย  BCTGM made...

28 June, 2012

The United States has lost more manufacturing jobs over the previous decade than during the Great Depression. A decade of record trade deficits, the closure of more than 50,000 manufacturing facilities, the loss of nearly six million manufacturing jobs, and chronic trade deficits are troubling signs of the nationโ€™s diminished industrial and innovative capability. The BCTGM recognizes the critical steps the Obama Administration has taken to stabilize the economy by ensuring the survival of the domestic...

19 June, 2012

Check out this great infographic from the AFL-CIO, and be sure to text JOBS to 235246 to receive updates on how to BRING JOBS HOME! SHARE THIS: Tell a friend page: http://bit.ly/KYaSUt Share on Twitter: http://bit.ly/M68qjh Share on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/Kw2Bfm ย ...

18 June, 2012

Workers and Supporters Call on Crystal Sugar to Engage in Real Negotiations to Reach Fair Contract Drayton, NDโ€”This morning, two-dozen workers who have been locked out of their jobs at American Crystal Sugar Co. (ACS) for ten months walked out of Drayton on their way to Grafton, ND. Over the next seven days, the workersโ€”members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millersโ€™ International Union (BCTGM)โ€”will walk or ride in a hay wagon approximately 200...

31 May, 2012

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a new report โ€œBetter OSHA Guidance Needed on Safety Incentive Programsโ€ that analyzes employerโ€™s use of safety incentive programs in an effort to bring reportable injuries down. OSHA relies on employer injury and illness records to target its enforcement efforts. However, questions have been raised as to whether some safety incentive programs and other workplace safety policies discourage workers from reporting injuries and illnesses suffered in the...

17 May, 2012

Since June of 2010, I have communicated extensively in writing with your local unions regarding the very serious financial difficulties of your employer, Hostess Brands.ย  Many of my communications should have been posted on Union bulletin boards at your work location so that you were kept continually informed.ย  Additionally, we held a meeting in Washington, D.C. on February 25, 2012, for all Hostess production locals. Both I and Secretary-Treasurer/Director of Organization David Durkee, have personally...

11 May, 2012

AFL-CIO Job growth in April rose by 115,000, above the 100,000 needed to keep up with new job entrants. The unemployment rate improved a tad, from 8.2 percent in March to 8.1 percent in April, as did the number of jobless, which declined from 12.7 million in March to 12.5 million in April, according to U.S. Department of Labor dataย released this morning. Some 14.5 million workers remain unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work. But...

04 May, 2012

AFL-CIO Each day in 2010, 13 workers on average were killed on the jobโ€”some 4,690 workersโ€”and an estimated 50,000 died from occupational diseases, according to the AFL-CIO's annual report,ย โ€œDeath on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.โ€ Released today, the report shows the numberย of those who died in 2010 (the most recent year for which data are available) is upย fromย the 4,551 people who perished in 2009. This trend that has continued since 2004, theย first year in a...

02 May, 2012