Remembering where we have come from to help us build a brighter future.

For over 100 years, the United Food and Commercial Workers and its predecessor, the Retail Clerks Union, have represented workers in British Columbia. The Retail Clerks Union in British Columbia began in 1899 when a small group of Vancouver clerks joined the Retail Clerks International Protective Association (RCIPA). The Vancouver clerks formed Local 279 of the RCIPA to better pursue a shorter work-week; fifteen hour days and 90-110 hour weeks were common to their profession. Local 279 launched petitions and appealed to merchants and politicians for reduced business hours. These efforts met with success in 1901 when Vancouver City Council passed Early Closing by-laws requiring shops to close by 6 P.M., and reduced the clerks' work-week to 60-70 hours. In a pioneering effort, Local 279 also actively recruited female members. Clerking was one of the few professions deemed "acceptable" for women in the waged workplace, and women were well-represented in the union's general membership and on the Executive Board. But by 1904, a deteriorating economy resulted in the collapse of Local 279. Victoria Local 604, formed in 1902, also succumbed to the faltering economy in 1904. Locals 279 and 604 would remain dormant until the flurry of union organizing that occurred during World War I. During 1917-1918, Locals 279 and 604 were reborn, and were accompanied by new RCIPA locals in Prince George and New Westminster. A new "shorter hours" movement and anger over inflation and war-profiteering sparked the RCIPA's resurrection in B.C. B.C.'s RCIPA locals once again recruited and encouraged women to become involved in the union, and actively represented female members at the provincial government's Minimum Wage for Women hearings in 1918-1919. Although tangentially involved in the general strikes of 1919, B.C.'s RCIPA locals distanced themselves from the labour radicalism of 1919. By 1922, all but Victoria's Local 604 had collapsed, and Local 604 would remain the only Retail Clerks Union in B.C. until 1937. Expansion in the retail grocery industry in the 1930s created new opportunities for organizing, and Vancouver Local 279 re-emerged in 1937. Local 604 also became active, and the union organized the first of ongoing closed-shop contracts with Safeway in 1938. The success of its Safeway negotiations provided the union with a stable membership and allowed it to attempt to organize other retail employees. The 1940s saw the union invest much time and energy organizing department store workers, but employer hostility and high rates of employee turnover limited the union's success in this field. Throughout the 1940s, women were active in the union. From 1942-1945, the demands of a wartime labour supply saw the union gain wage parity for its female Safeway members. Women served as organizers, shop stewards, Executive Board members, and Business Agents. The Retail Clerks Union also streamlined its operations in the 1940s, creating Local 1518 to represent food-industry workers, and designating Local 279 as the non-food sector of the union. The post-war prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s saw the union make tremendous gains as it moved beyond the urban areas of south-west B.C. and organized throughout the province. By 1959, Locals 1518 and 279 represented over 2,000 retail employees in B.C. Continued expansion in the retail grocery industry was a boon to the union's membership rolls in the 1960s, and B.C. members enjoyed the best wage and benefit settlements for retail clerks in Canada. The Retail Clerks Union continued to grow despite the corporate/government attack on working people that began in the mid-1970s. The 1979 merger of the Retail Clerks Union and the Amalgamated Meatcutters and Butcher Workmen of North America created the UFCW. In the 1980s and 1990s, ongoing organization and several other mergers have seen the UFCW in B.C. grow to over 26,000 members as it entered its centennial year. Retail clerks have been joined by workers in health-care, industry, and non-food commercial stores to form a powerful voice for working people in B.C. The decline of traditional resource and manufacturing industries and the corresponding growth of service industries in North America since the mid-1970s sees UFCW Local 1518 in an important position as the new century unfolds. Local 1518 will be an increasingly important advocate and resource for working people as the North American economy continues to restructure. Our union is proud to honour its past, and prepared to grow into the future.