If you want your Halloween to be all treats and no tricks, make sure all your candy is union-made in America. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411, has an extensive list of union-made candies. Here are some highlights, featuring sweets made by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW):

First, my apologies to any student in the middle of their summer reverie who stumbles across this blog. But like Christmas ads, back-to-school messages start earlier and earlier. Here’s ours, courtesy of the Union Label and Services Trades Department (UL&STD).   

Jake Long, chair of the Harrisburg Region Central Labor Council’s COPE committee and a baker by trade, does not spend most of his days in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg, but it did not take him long to form an opinion of the proceedings surrounding the court’s review of the state's contested voter ID law.

Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) President David B. Durkee issued the following statement in response to the impending re-entry by Hostess Brands, LLC, into the snack cake market:

“This coming week, Hostess Brands, LLC, is expected to re-enter the wholesale snack cake market.  Despite the fanfare, the long-term viability of this effort is highly uncertain. Rather than hire professional, experienced bakers who have produced quality snack cakes in the company’s bakeries for decades, Hostess management has chosen instead to hire primarily workers with little or no experience in the demanding wholesale snack cake baking industry.

Check out this great clip from "All In With Chris Hayes" featuring Panera Bread worker Kathleen Von Eitzen. Von Eitzen and her co-workers voted to join the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 70 in Battle Creek, Mich., but Panera Bread refused to bargain with them. Even though the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled the company had to negotiate with Von Eitzen and her co-workers, their case is in limbo because of a federal circuit court of appeals ruling that President Obama's recess appointments to the NLRB are "invalid."

For 78 years, the National Labor Rights Board (NLRB) has safeguarded the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain to improve their wages, benefits and workplace environment. Next month, the NLRB’s power to protect more than 80 million private-sector workers could be further limited when the term of one of the current members is set to expire, leaving the board inoperable and without a quorum.

This week, leading up to July 4, we're highlighting American products and services. What are your favorite Made in America products? 

If there was a union for dogs—and if they had opposable thumbs—I’m sure my two German Shepherds would sign authorization cards and I would respect their majority sign-up choice. But until non-traditional alt-organizing takes a major step outside the box, our pets will have to find solidarity and some tasty treats in a variety of pet products that carry a Made in America union label.

This is the weekend many of us will head to the stores to stock up on our July 4 supplies for the summer’s top cookout event. To celebrate the Fourth with a Made in America, union label, check out our union-made list below, compiled from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM), the LA Labor 411's website, Union Plus and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).  

More than a year since they voted to form a union, Panera Bread workers in Michigan are still waiting to have a voice on the job. The franchisee that owns the Panera stores in the region refused to recognize the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) as the official representative of the bakers and refused to meet to bargain a first contract.

Read more on the Eclectablog.

BCTGM with the AFL-CIO have organized a solidarity rally to show support for the Panera Bread bakers and demand that the company stop playing games and recognize their union. The rally will happen at the Panera Bread bakery-café (5119 West Main St., Kalamazoo, Mich.) today from 10 a.m.–2 p.m.

This is how hope turns into despair. More than a year since they voted to form a union, Panera workers in Michigan are still waiting. The franchisee that owns the Panera Bread stores in the region refused to recognize the BCTGM as the official representative of the bakers and refused to meet to bargain a first contract. 

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that Panera broke the law by refusing to bargain, and ordered the company to bargain with the bakers.  But the company appealed that ruling to the D.C. Circuit Court, which has put the case on hold because of another ruling about President Obama’s three recess appointments to the NLRB.  So the workers are still waiting for justice.