Service + Solidarity Spotlight: BCTGM Donates Union-Made Food to AFM Members on Strike in San Antonio

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

The members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) know what it’s like to go through a tough strike. Securing fair contracts with food manufacturing giants like Kellogg, Nabisco and Jon Donaire Desserts all within the past year was no easy task. And it’s because of this dedication to solidarity that the international union is donating food made by its own members to support striking musicians at the San Antonio Symphony.

For months, the 72 members of American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 23 have been on strike against the symphony, demanding a fair contract that recognizes their labor to make the cultural organization a success. Local 23 President Richard Oppenheim expressed his thanks to the BCTGM and said this support could not have come at a better time.

“How do we as labor help our sisters and brothers?” asked AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Emerita Linda Chavez-Thompson. “We provide what’s needed to help achieve a better livelihood. Whether this be guidance, sweat, manpower or, in the case of striking symphony workers, food. Labor is always there for each other when times call for solidarity.” Chavez-Thompson was among the volunteers packing up donated food at the San Antonio AFL-CIO offices last week.

The San Antonio central labor council and the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County will be delivering the food to all families of Local 23 in the coming days. The donated bread and snack products were made by BCTGM Local 111 members at the Bimbo Bakeries USA plant in San Antonio.