UFCW Local 1776

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.

History

United Food and Commercial Workers

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including agriculture, health care, meatpacking, poultry and food processing, manufacturing, textile, chemical trades, and retail food. Until July 2005, UFCW was affiliated with the AFL-CIO, where it was the second largest union by membership. Along with two other members of the Change to Win Coalition, the UFCW formally disaffiliated with the AFL-CIO on July 29, 2005. On August 8, 2013, UFCW reaffiliated to the AFL-CIO.

History

The UFCW was created through the merger of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters union and Retail Clerks International Union following its founding convention in June 1979. William H. Wynn, president of the RCIU and one of the designers of the merger, became president of UFCW at the time of its founding. The merger created the largest union affiliated with the AFL-CIO. The UFCW continued to expand both by organizing and merging with several smaller unions between 1980 and 1998. In 1980, the Barbers, Beauticians and Allied Industries International Association merged with UFCW, followed by the United Retail Workers Union in 1981 (now Local 881).