While Hostess Brands is trying to scapegoat the workers and members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), the real cause of the company's collapse can be traced back to its crony capitalism and consistently poor management.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following statement concerning Hostess Brands ' announcement that it will liquidate its holdings and cease operations, costing 18,000 workers their jobs.
What’s happening with Hostess Brands is a microcosm of what’s wrong with America, as Bain-style Wall Street vultures make themselves rich by making America poor. Crony capitalism and consistently poor management drove Hostess into the ground, but its workers are paying the price. These workers, who consistently make great products Americans love and have offered multiple concessions, want their company to succeed. They have bravely taken a stand against the corporate race-to-the-bottom. And now they and their communities are suffering the tragedy of a needless layoff. This is wrong. It has to stop. It’s wrecking America.
This is a cross-post from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM).
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 BCTGM-represented workers, the company was planning to close at least nine bakeries as part of its reorganization plan, although the company refused to disclose which bakeries it intended to close.
Workers at Hostess Brands—who in September overwhelming rejected a contract that cut wages and benefits by as much as 32%— began a strike today against the maker of Wonder Bread, Twinkies and other well-known baked treats. Hostess has imposed the terms of the rejected contract. Frank Hurt, president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) says:
Hostess Brands is making a mockery of the labor relations system that has been in place for nearly 100 years.
On a recent evening, members of unions from the Iowa City Federation of Labor and other activists urged customers at the Target store in Coral Ridge Mall to boycott American Crystal Sugar products and support the workers who have been locked out since Aug. 1, 2011. See more in this video.
" Dianda's Bakery Celebrates 50 Years of Honored Traditions " is a cross-post from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM).
Union bakers at San Francisco’s famous Dianda’s Italian-American Pastry Co . have been creating some of the city’s most loved cakes and pastries since the Mission district bakery opened its doors in 1962. What is the secret to their long success? Happy workers, time-honored recipes and loyal customers.
While the children of the locked-out workers at American Crystal Sugar Co. have written CEO Dave Berg, urging him to end the 14-month lockout of their parents, support for the boycott of American Crystal Sugar products is growing.
This slideshow highlights some of the action last week as union and community allies took the boycott call to Denver; Duluth, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.; Appleton, La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee and Wausau, Wis.; Wichita, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Parkersburg, W.Va.
Because of American Crystal Sugar’s continued refusal to end its 14-month lockout of more than 1,300 workers and return to the bargaining table, working families across the country today launched a boycott against American Crystal Sugar (ACS) products. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says:
Making record profits while giving working families and communities the shaft is just plain wrong.
The AFL-CIO has endorsed a nationwide consumer boycott of American Crystal Sugar Co. products starting Oct. 15. The boycott is in response to the company’s 14-month lockout of 1,300 workers at its processing facilities in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. If the company returns to the bargaining table in good faith and reaches an agreement, the boycott will be called off.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the locked-out workers—members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers ( BCTGM )—“are responsible for American Crystal Sugar’s profitability and previously strong reputation.”
Ten-year-old Sophia Frank wants American Crystal Sugar CEO Dave Berg and the firm’s board members to stop the 13-month lockout of her father and the more than 1,300 workers because, as she wrote in a letter to company officials:
I'm sorta worried that we're about to run out of food or lose our home because my dad’s out of work for so long.
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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