Happy Birthday UFCW!
The United Food and Commercial Workers union was formed on August 8, 1979, when the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workers of North America officially merged with the Retail Clerks International Union. The newly merged union became the UFCW.
While the history of the UFCW begins in 1979, the history of the various industries that make up our union is long and proud. The industries that UFCW members work in were involved in the earliest stages of trade unionism in North America, and many times these workers acted as a catalyst for early change within the labor community.
Today the union represents well over a million workers including meat cutters, meat packers, manufacturing workers, food processors, grocery clerks, cashiers, delicatessen clerks, delivery people, seafood clerks, produce managers, frozen food specialists, bakers, hardware salespeople and health and beauty aid salespeople – to name only a few.
Learn more about the history of the UFCW or download this timeline of our history (PDF).