The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.2 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hospitality; agriculture; cannabis; chemical trades; security; textile, and health care. UFCW is affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the AFL–CIO; it disaffiliated from the AFL–CIO in 2005 but reaffiliated in 2013. UFCW is also affiliated to UNI Global Union and the IUF.
History
The UFCW was created through the merger of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America (AMC) union and Retail Clerks International Union (RCIU), following the new union's 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 a year later by the United Retail Workers Union (now Local 881). The UFCW held its first regular international convention in Montreal, Quebec, in 1983. The Insurance Workers' International Union also that year voted to have their 15,000 members join the UFCW. In 1986 the Canadian Brewery Workers Union merged with the UFCW. However, it was also during this time period that the UFCW leadership did not support the Austin, Minnesota, meatpackers local (P-9) in its contract dispute with the Hormel Foods Corporation, the 1985–86 Hormel strike. The UFCW ultimately struck a deal with Hormel management, seized control of Local P-9, and removed the local union leaders, actions that dealt a blow to the credibility of the UFCW in the eyes of others in the larger labor movement. This dispute was the subject of the award-winning documentary, American Dream. In 1991 the 5,000 members of the Independent Food Handlers and Warehouse Employees Union in Rhode Island and Massachusetts merged with the UFCW to form Local 791. Bringing about the largest addition to the UFCW since its creation in 1979, on October 1, 1993, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, and their 100,000 members, merged with the UFCW, becoming the RWDSU District Council of the UFCW. In 1994 Douglas H. Dority was appointed the second international president by the International Executive Board following the retirement of William Wynn. Dority was subsequently elected to remain International President at the UFCW's fourth regular International Convention in 1998, and again at the fifth regular convention in 2003. In 1994 the 15,000-member strong United Garment Workers of America also merged with the UFCW. A year later, the 15,000-member Textile Workers and the 15,000-member Distillery, Wine and Allied Workers' International Union unions merged with the UFCW, forming respectively the UFCW Textile and Garment Council and the UFCW’s Distillery, Wine and Allied Workers Division. In 1996 the 40,000 members of the International Chemical Workers' Union merged with the UFCW to form the International Chemical Workers Union Council of the UFCW. A year later, the Canadian Union of Restaurant and Related Employees merged with the UFCW. And the following year, both the United Representatives Guild, Inc. and the Production Service and Sales District Council merged with the UFCW. In 2003, 80,000 members of the UFCW across the country went on strike to protect their wages and benefit packages. In 2004 following the retirement of Dority, Joseph T. Hansen was appointed by unanimous vote of the UFCW International Executive Board to be the third international president of the UFCW. He was elected for two consecutive terms as international president by delegates to the UFCW's Regular International Conventions in 2008 and 2013. In 2005 Hansen announced the UFCW was leaving the AFL–CIO, and joined six other unions – the Teamsters, SEIU, UNITE-HERE, Laborers, United Farm Workers and Carpenters – in creating a new labor federation, the Change to Win Federation. On August 8, 2013, the UFCW announced it was changing its affiliation back to AFL–CIO. On December 15, 2014, Anthony "Marc" Perrone was appointed the fourth international president of the UFCW by the International Executive Board, following the retirement of Hansen.
Activity
Canadian agriculture The UFCW has attempted to organize agricultural workers in Ontario, Canada, since 1995, when the provincial government passed legislation prohibiting those workers from joining unions. In 2001 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of UFCW Canada in the case of Dunmore v. Ontario. In the ruling, the Court held that the Ontario government violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by denying agricultural workers unionization rights under Ontario labor law as it had infringed on those workers' freedom of association. In 2004, UFCW Canada and the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) signed a formal organizing protocol recognizing the UFCW as the union with primary jurisdiction for organizing agricultural workers in Canada and agreeing to cooperate on joint organizing and advocacy campaigns.
Medical Cannabis and Hemp Division
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
