Retail Stores
UFCW Retail Store Workers are Stronger Together! |
The history of the retail industry and the UFCW is one that dates back to 1890 with the charter of the Retail Clerks International Union, then known as the Retail Clerks National Protective Union. What started as a movement of 3,000 w By 1904, after many long, bitter battles for better wages and working conditions, the membership had grown to over 50,000. Local unions began negotiating contracts, focusing their attention on shorter working hours and pay increases. The merger of the Retail Clerks and the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union in 1979 united two union powerhouses, both with a long history of fighting for justice and economic security for working people. It was this merger that gave life to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Better wages, working conditions, and equal pay for equal work were issues championed in the early days of the UFCW movement and continue to be crucial to improving the lives of workers today. “All retail workers should have a union,” said Margie McCabe, an RWDSU/UFCW Local 1102 worker from Syms in New York. “You see all these news stories about shoppers and sales figures, and nobody thinks about the people who work long hours to make shopping easier. But the union is always thinking about us, and making sure that we're treated right." Workers from stores like H&M, Macy’s, Saks 5th Avenue, and other retail giants are realizing the strength they have when they stick together and demand fair treatment. Margie’s local recently welcomed 1,000 new H&M workers at nine Manhattan stores who bonded together to achieve a union voice on the job. Through UFCW representation, the new members will have an opportunity to negotiate innovative employment standards, in addition to wage and benefit improvements, including a partnership for engaging in socially and environmentally responsible programs.
“More members means more power for better benefits, wages and working conditions for retail workers here in Manhattan—and in the rest of the country, too.” Join us and fight for a better future for America. |
orkers from the Clothing and Gents Furnishings and Shoe Store in Muskegon, Michigan spread throughout the Midwest uniting workers in Indiana, Minnesota, Colorado, Ohio and Illinois.
“I think it's great that H & M workers are joining our union,” said Gil McGarvey, who works at Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
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