On April 16, the BCTGM General Executive Board (GEB) unanimously elected Anthony Shelton as International President, to fulfil the term of International President David B. Durkee who passed away on March 30.
Shelton served as BCTGM International Secretary-Treasurer since December 6, 2019 when he was elected to that position by the BCTGM General Executive Board.
Shelton has been a member of the Union since 1973 when he became a member of Local 25 (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and later became a shop steward at Holsum Bakery in Chattanooga. He also worked at Colonial Bakery where he served as both a steward and chief shop steward. Shelton was a Local 25 Trustee and member of the Local 25 Executive Board between 1986 and 1992.
In March 1992, President John DeConcini appointed Shelton as a Southern Region International Representative, a position he held for 23 years.
In September 2015, Shelton was elected by the BCTGM General Executive Board to serve as International Vice President of the Southern Region. At the 2018 BCTGM Constitutional Convention, delegates elected Shelton to a full four-year term as the Southern Region International Vice President.
Shelton is a second generation BCTGM member; his father, Walter Shelton, was a 62-year member of the BCTGM who served as Business Agent of Local 25 for 25 years and held a position as a member of the International’s General Executive Board.
“I am honored that the Board has entrusted me to serve as International President and pledge to our members that I will devote all of my time and energy to lead our great Union with the highest degree of integrity and commitment to the principles upon which the BCTGM was built. I will use as guideposts the inspiring legacy of quality, effective and dignified leadership displayed by my esteemed predecessors Brothers John DeConcini, Frank Hurt and David B. Durkee during their time as International President.”
- BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton
GEB Elects Woods to Serve as Secretary-Treasurer
On April 16, 2020, GEB unanimously elected David Woods to serve as BCTGM International Secretary-Treasurer.
On December 6, 2019, the General Executive Board elected Woods as the Southern Region International Vice President.
Woods became a member of the BCTGM Local 165G (Knoxville, Tenn.) in August 1989 when he went to work at White Lilly Foods Co. as a maintenance mechanic. Woods served as the Principle Officer of Local 165G until the Local merged into Local 25 (Chattanooga, Tenn.) in 2004 and he was elected as Assistant Business Agent of the newly merged Local Union.
In 2007, Woods was elected Business Agent/Financial Secretary of Local 25, a position he served until 2012 when International President Frank Hurt named him as a Southern Region International Representative.
While he was a local union officer, David served as a Trustee of the Chattanooga Central Labor Council and Committee Member of the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Central Labor Council. He has a long and active history serving various roles with the United Way and the Boy Scouts of America. In 2017, Woods graduated from the Harvard Trade Union Program.
Trade unionism runs in Wood’s blood. His father, Harold Woods, was President of the Tennessee AFL-CIO and his mother, Sylvia, was a local and regional leader for the Office and Professional Employees Union.
