The 18,000 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) who've made our Twinkies and other classic snacks have a new ally in their struggle for their jobs and pensions and the brand's survival. The bakery workers' pension fund has engaged a prominent New York investment banking firm in connection with Hostess Brands' Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, BCTGM announced.

Mike Hummell says the men and women who made the iconic baked goods at Hostess Brands’ Lenexa, Kan., plant turned out quality products and “it was something everyone who worked there had a lot of pride in.”

That was until years of mismanagement coupled with unprecedented corporate greed bankrupted the company, stole the workers’ pensions and closed dozens of bakery plants’ doors in November. In this video, Hummell, a 14-year veteran of Hostess, and other members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 218, say they want to set the record straight.    

David B. Durkee, who served as secretary-treasurer for the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) since 1998, is the union’s new president after the BCTGM’s General Executive Board approved his nomination. He succeeds Frank Hurt, who retired Jan. 1 after 20 years in office. The board also approved Steve Bertelli as secretary-treasurer.

An editorial in Wednesday's Orlando Sentinel challenges numerous myths about the end of Hostess and correctly blames the company's downfall on management's assault on working families.

It could have been a pretty bleak and hungry holiday season for the families of the 1,300 American Crystal Sugar workers who have been locked out of their jobs since August 2011. But thanks to the combined efforts of the unions of the St. Paul (Minn.) Regional Labor Federation and the American Income Life Insurance Co., there’ll be presents under the trees and food in the pantries.

Have a BCTGM-Made Holiday Season is a cross-post from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM).

Delight your friends and loved ones with holiday treats made by hard-working BCTGM members! Listed here is a sampling of the BCTGM-contracted companies that produce seasonal specialties.

Finding that perfect gift this holiday season doesn't have to be a headache. Check out this Made in America, union-made gift guide. Here are some highlights from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411. Gifts include those made by members of UNITE HERE, Boilermakers (IBB), Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), Machinists (IAM), United Steelworkers (USW), Teamsters (IBT), UAW, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW (RWDSU/UFCW) and United Farm Workers (UFW).

Money that was intended for employee pensions was used by Hostess Brands management to cover operating expenses and workers were never compensated for the lost payment, Yahoo News reports. An undetermined amount of money that Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Miller (BCTGM) members were supposed to receive as part of their contract with the company was used to keep the company running after mismanagement led to significant losses and eventual bankruptcy.

Locked-out American Crystal Sugar workers tried to deliver a petition with more than 100,000 signatures urging a resumption of talks to end the 17-month lockout of some 1,300 workers to company executives, shareholders and growers at the firm’s shareholder meeting in Fargo, N.D., Thursday morning. But in a similar response to CEO Dave Berg’s refusal to bargain for a fair contract, Berg and other top company officials refused to meet with the workers.

Kathleen von Eitzen, a baker at Panera Bread's Battle Creek, Mich., location, just wants to be respected for her craft and the work she does every day.

I simply want to be respected and recognized as the artisan baker that Panera advertises that I am.

Von Eitzen is one of 18 bakers who recently voted to be represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 70. 

Read more from BCTGM: NLRB Orders Panera to Bargain with Michigan Bakers.