Founded 1937CE Affiliation Change to Win, | Members Approximately 20,000 | |
Full name United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1776 Head union United Food and Commercial Workers Key people Wendell W. Young IV, President | ||
Local 1776 represents workers in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs for the United Food and Commercial Workers. The larger majority of their members work in grocery stores. The number 1776 refers to the historical date in Philadelphia rather than it being a sequential number of local unions.
Contents
History
In 1937, The Retail Clerks & Managers Protective Association (retail clerks) Local 1357 was founded in Philadelphia by employees of American Stores and A&P. In 1963, Local 1357 of the retail clerks had 4,000 members in Philadelphia area supermarkets. By the end of the decade, through the organizing power of president Wendell Young III over 10,000 non-food retail workers and department store employees joined Local 1357.
In 1971, Pennsylvania State Liquor Store clerks joined the ranks of the expanding union. In 1980 the Retail Clerks International Association had merged with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters to create the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union.
Food processing workers boot and shoe factory workers, health care workers, clerical and professional administrators as well as insurance agents and barbers, hairdressers and cosmetologists all unified during the course of the 1980s. To celebrate the newfound unity of so diverse a union membership, Local 1357 changed to the historic Local number "1776" in May 1989. Through Young's skills as an organizer and administrator, Local 1776 expanded to over 24,000 members in 1990.
Local 1776 today retains a similarity of purpose and mission, the struggles against the privatization of the PLCB and the invasion of non-union competition such as Wal-mart and non-union food producers.
Notable representations
Retail food
Non-food retail
Food processing
Professional services
Manufacturing