BCTGM Statement on Fires in East Grand Forks and Drayton Crystal Sugar Plants

In response to a fire last night in the Drayton, ND Crystal Sugar facility and one this morning in East Grand Forks, MN, BCTGM Local 167G President John Riskey issued the following statement: “When you put poorly trained replacement workers into these facilities, preventable accidents can and will happen. That is exactly what happened last night in Drayton and in East Grand Forks this morning. Yesterday, Vice President Brian Ingulsrud told the media there were no concerns...

09 September, 2011

Statement from BCTGM Local 167G President John Riskey

“For the first time in four weeks, representatives from American Crystal Sugar Company finally agreed to meet with BCTGM union negotiators. We came to the table in good faith with proposals that addressed many of the company’s concerns including changes to health coverage and expanding upon the company’s substance abuse policy. Unfortunately, the company ignored our ideas and stubbornly offered the same proposal that 96% of our membership rejected. While the company has refused to schedule another meeting,...

24 August, 2011

Crystal workers are willing to negotiate, keep working

By John Riskey, INFORUM We want to keep working. It’s that simple. As the community already knows, 1,300 Red River Valley residents employed by American Crystal Sugar Co. have been forced off the job against our will. We are your neighbors. We go to church with you. We spend money at local businesses. We raise our families here because the Red River Valley is a great place to live and work. On Tuesday, American Crystal Sugar...

05 August, 2011

Sugar workers locked out in Red River Valley

EAST GRAND FORKS - After voting overwhelmingly to reject the final offer from American Crystal Sugar, some1,300 workers in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa have been locked out. This morning, BCTGM Local 167G  President John Riskey read a statement at all affected facilities. "Today, American Crystal Sugar workers...

01 August, 2011

NLRB Proposes New Rule to Improve Union Election Process

On June 21, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposed important new rules to improve and modernize the NLRB election process.  The proposed rule issued by the NLRB ensures workers have a basic right we hold dear in this country: the right to vote. By eliminating voting delays and modernizing an outdated system, the rule removes unfair obstacles so that workers can vote on whether to form a union if they want to. It’s a step...

25 June, 2011

Kroger Cake Decorators Join BCTGM Local 9, Seattle

BCTGM Local 9 (Seattle) has organized the bakers and cake decorators at three Kroger in-store bakeries in Kirkland and Bellevue, Washington. The successful campaigns were lead by Local 9 officers, according to Region 6 International Vice President Randy Roark.  The BCTGM welcomes the new Kroger bakers into our BCTGM union family!...

08 May, 2011

Safeway Bakers/Cake Decorators Join Local 24, San Francisco

BCTGM Local 24 (San Francisco) has organized the journeymen bakers, the apprentice bakers, the journeymen cake decorators, the apprentice cake decorators, and the donut fryers at three Safeway in-store bakeries in Sunnyvale, Menlo Park and Santa Cruz, Calif.  Additionally, Local 24 has organized the mechanics, who service the delivery trucks at Roma Bakery in San Jose, Calif. The campaigns were lead by Local 24 Financial Secretary Joe Biringer and Business Agents Oscar Hernandez and Humberto Gomez, according...

08 March, 2011

Safeway Bakery Joins Local 125, Oakland, Calif.

BCTGM Local 125 (Oakland, Calif.) organizing efforts have been paying off!  Recently the local organized Safeway’s in-store bakery (#2712) located at 11050 Bollinger Canyon Road in San Romon.  Local 125 Financial Secretary Donna Scarano credits Recording Secretary David Cheong with the successful campaign. Scarano also reports that Local 125 has organized the maintenance department at Dobake Bakeries located at 810 81st Avenue, in Oakland.  Local 125 already represents the bakery’s production workers, who make bread, buns...

08 February, 2011

Kroger Bakery Sanitation Department in Clackamas, Oregon Joins Local 114

In the June 2010 issue of the BCTGM Report, it was reported that BCTGM Local 114 (Portland, Ore.) had won an organizing election to represent 13 sanitation workers employed at the BCTGM- represented captive Safeway Bakery in Portland. According to Region 6 Vice President Randy Roark, since that victory, Local 114 has continued to “clean up” on the organizing front with two additional organizing successes with wholesale bakery sanitation bargaining units.  Local 114 has organized the sanitation...

08 January, 2011

Tasty Baking Workers say “BCTGM YES!”

Since Tasty Baking Company in Philadelphia was founded in 1914, workers have been without a union. That all changed in August when Tasty Baking Co.'s bakers, warehouse workers, food-safety technicians, auto mechanics, and vending drivers voted to become members of BCTGM Local 492 (Philadelphia). The company closed its old non-union North Philadelphia bakery and transferred production to a newly-built “green” facility located in the Philadelphia Naval Yard. According to the company, they took the abandoned industrial...

08 October, 2010

Canada Bread Workers in Quebec Join BCTGM

Like most organizing campaigns, there were a lot of ups and downs for the workers of Aliments Martel, a new subsidiary of Canada Bread in Gatineau, Quebec. When workers at the Gatineau facility approached BCTGM Local 55 (Montreal, Quebec) in 2009 about joining the Union, the worker’s spirits were high. They knew that the BCTGM represented Canada Bread workers across Canada and had a long, stable relationship with the company.  That seemed to bode well for...

05 October, 2010

13 Safeway Sanitation Workers join Local 114, Portland, Ore.

BCTGM Local 114 (Portland, Ore.) won an organizing election to represent 13 sanitation workers employed at the BCTGM represented captive Safeway Bakery in Portland. This sanitation department has never been union. The result of the election was 10 (Union Yes) to 2 no votes. Incredibly, Safeway used anti-union attorneys on their campaign and brought in two high-ranking corporate management persons from California and Oregon...

08 June, 2010

Local 464 Welcomes Grounds Keepers at the new Hershey Country Club, Hummelstown, Pa.

BCTGM Region Two Vice President Robert Oakley reports that Local 464 (Hershey, Pa.) has organized the grounds keepers at the new Hershey Country Club in Hummelstown, Pa. and the maintenance workers, electricians, housekeeping, cooks and wait staff at the new Hershey Villas in Hershey. Local 464 signed a majority status on authorization-for-representation cards and was granted recognition by the employer, thus avoiding an expensive and unnecessary anti-union campaign. Both of these bargaining units...

08 April, 2010

AIS Hazardous Waste workers join Local 406, New Brunswick

Canadian Vice President Sean Kelly reports that BCTGM Local 406 (Moncton, New Brunswick) has successfully organized the workers at Atlantic Industrial Services (AIS), which is a Division of Enviro-Systems (ESI).  AIS is located in Fredericton, New Brunswick.  ESI is one of the largest handlers of hazardous waste in Atlantic Canada providing a full range of disposal options for all hazardous and regulated wastes. ...

08 March, 2010

Local 358 (Richmond, Va.) Gains Additional Land-O-Sun Members

In the April 2009 organizing report, we had reported that BCTGM Local 358 (Richmond, VA) had organized more than 100 dairy workers employed at Land-O-Sun Dairy (a subsidiary of dairy giant Dean Foods) in Richmond, Va.  This dairy produces all varieties of fresh milk under private label brands.  More than 70 percent voted “Union Yes” in a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election and ...

08 February, 2010