Russ Pohl

We all know it as the labor union that took down snack food company Hostess, but what exactly is the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) and what else has it been involved with recently?

According to its website, the BCTGM was “one of the pioneers of the North American labor movement” that began when the Bakery and Confectionery Workers International Union of America was organized in 1886. The Bakery and Confectionary Workers International Union later merged with the American Bakery and Confectionery Workers’ International Union in 1969. In 1978, the Tobacco Workers International Union merged with the Bakery and Confectionery Workers International Union of America, which created the Bakery, Confectionary, and Tobacco Union (BC&T).

In 1999, The American Federation of Grain Millers union (AFGM) union, formed in 1936, merged with the BC&T, creating the BCTGM union that exists today.

The BCTGM is under the affiliation of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The union represents workers for several big snack food companies, which include Hershey’s, General Mills, Kellogg’s and Nestle.

After Hostess announced it would close because of the strike, which the BCTGM pursued despite advice to the contrary from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, union president Frank Hurt said in a statement the union showed “tremendous courage, solidarity and devotion to principle” and was “well aware of the potential consequences of their actions,” which amounted to forcing a large company to close shop and put 18,500 workers out of their jobs.

BCTGM also has called for a nationwide boycott of American Crystal Sugar products in response to the company’s lockout of union employees on Aug. 1, 2011, after the BCTGM turned down an offer that would have given union workers a 13 percent pay raise over five years, with certain benefit cuts in healthcare and seniority.

The BCTGM’s leadership includes Frank Hurt, who has been President of the union since 1994, has been involved in the union’s activities since 1972. BCTGM’s Secretary-Treasurer David B. Durkee is also a lifelong union member, joining the BC&T in 1973.

After the 2012 election, labor unions celebrated what was seen as an overall victorious election season for their organizations. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka bragged that labor’s political organization provided the support necessary for Barack Obama to win re-election.

“We did deliver those states,” said Trumka during a recent press conference, referring to Nevada, Wisconsin, and Ohio. “I think without the efforts of organized labor, those three states would have been different — none of those three would have been in the president’s column.”

He may be right. Big Labor’s political outreach was also successful in securing union favored ballot initiatives in several states.

Acting accordingly with the state’s determination to commit fiscal suicide, California gave labor unions their largest victory of the night by passing Proposition 30, a union backed ballot initiative which raises the state’s sales tax and the income tax rate of the state’s highest earners (ostensibly on the behalf of the state’s education system). At the same time, California voters also rejected Proposition 32, which would have banned corporate and union political donations to state and local candidates.

Since California’s political landscape renders these victories unsurprising, Big Labor also scored wins in red states that Gov. Mitt Romney carried easily. In Idaho, the defeat of Propositions 1 and 2, which would have reformed the state’s education system, was a victory for the Idaho Education Association. A similar initiative in South Dakota, which would have eliminated teacher tenure and instituted merit pay, was also defeated.

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This November, Washington could become the 42nd state to authorize charter schools. Washington residents will vote on Initiative 1240, which if passed will “allow a maximum of up to 40 public charter schools to be establish over a five-year period as independently managed public schools operated only by qualified nonprofit organizations approved by the state,” according to the measure’s ballot language.

Opponents of Initiative 1240, including the Washington Education Association (WEA), claim charter schools in Washington would hinder the state’s constitutional responsibility to fund education.  The WEA’s political action website says the measure would “drain millions from Washington’s K-12 public schools” into privately run charter schools—even though charter schools are publicly funded institutions and thus do not take money away from public education.

A more likely explanation for the unions’ opposition is the loss of its monopoly over public education finances. Another reason is the possibility it could make it harder to gain new members. Most charter schools are not unionized and organizing campaigns are expensive.

Critics of the initiative also claim it violates the state’s constitution because it discriminates against some students, since not every child will be able to attend a charter school. The Washington Constitution’s Article IX says the state will provide public education “without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.” However, the ballot language states charter schools will “be free and open to all students just like traditional public schools” and prevents charter school officials from handpicking students.

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