BCTGM and IUF Strengthen Mondelēz International Global Alliance

KENSINGTON, Md., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), which represents nearly 4,000 members at Mondelēz International, maker of Nabisco and other popular snack products, announced it will join the International Union of Food Workers (IUF) and its affiliates, representing 2.5 million workers in 126 countries, at an International Trade Union Meeting to take place on September 20 & 21, 2016, in Chicago, Illinois.

The meeting will bring together IUF affiliates at Mondelēz International from around the world to strengthen trade union efforts to defend quality employment at the company. Mondelēz has embarked on a program of endless restructuring and financial engineering to achieve short-term financial gains which have resulted in the elimination of thousands of good union jobs and a weakening of trade union rights, in part through the transfer of production to countries with lower levels of wages and social protection.

"Continuous restructuring, financial engineering and cost-cutting by Mondelēz to inflate investor dividends have profoundly negative consequences for the rights and livelihoods of not only our hard-working BCTGM brothers and sisters here in the United States, but also to all IUF members around the world," stated BCTGM International President David Durkee. "We are proud to help facilitate the building of a strong international union alliance of IUF affiliates who share our concerns about the corporate injustice Mondelēz is inflicting on not only our local communities and hard-working Americans here in the U.S., but also all Mondelēz workers around the world. We will not cease until there is a meaningful and fair resolution to the short-sighted betrayal Mondelēz has perpetuated to local communities around the world."

IUF affiliates represent a majority of unionized Mondelēz employees around the world from Alexandria, Egypt to Chicago, Illinois, and since 1920 the organization has been instrumental in driving policy reforms and institutional changes for workers' rights and protections. In January of this year, the IUF released this statement of global solidarity and commitment to mutual action against Mondelēz International in support of BCTGM's continuing campaign against Mondelēz to oppose the closure of numerous U.S. production facilities that have resulted in the loss of many hundreds of quality jobs. BCTGM also continues to be resolute in its commitment to securing a quality contract for its members – one that is in the very best interests of all members and their families today and into the future – after its National contract between Mondelēz International and over 2,000 of its 4,000 workers represented by the BCTGM expired on February 29, 2016.

For more information, please visit www.BCTGM.org.

BCTGM Contacts:
Ron Baker, BCTGM Strategic Campaign Coordinator
(703) 508-2637
[email protected]

Jeana Foxman, Perry Street Communications
(214) 965-9955
[email protected]

IUF Contact:
Sarah Meyer, International Officer: Food Processing
+41 76 295 75 23
[email protected]

SOURCE Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union

Related Links

http://www.bctgm.org