RETAIL WHOLESALE & DEPARTMENT STORE LOCAL 1-S RWDSU AFL-CIO history

Over the years a number of other unions have also merged with the RWDSU, including AFL founder Sam Gompers' Cigar Makers in 1974.

In June of 1979, William H. Wynn became the President of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) after a successful merger.

In the Fall of 1984, Local 338 President Emanuel Laub established our Scholarship Program, which has allowed us to provide winners with financial aid through scholarships for over three decades.

The RWDSU became the first union to endorse Bill Clinton for President in 1992.

In October, 1993 the RWDSU affiliated with the 1.5 million member United Food and Commercial Workers.

And RWDSU officers served as election observers in South Africa in 1994, during that country’s first post-apartheid free elections.

Our current President, John R. Durso, was elected in 1999 after spending 15 years as a Business Agent.

New York City supermarket deliverymen (above) were among the most exploited immigrant workers in the city when a 2003 organizing drive brought 250 of these workers an RWDSU contract, and, a settlement worth $3 million.

RWDSU Local 513 members went on strike in 2004 (above) after management at the Pepsi distribution plant in Haverhill, Massachusetts, proposed a contract that would raise workers’ health care costs and failed to address numerous workers’ concerns.

In 2007, over 1,000 H&M department store workers throughout New York City joined RWDSU Local 1102, and would go on to win wage and benefit increases in their first contract.

Over 500 workers employed at the Alatrade poultry plant in Phoenix City, Alabama became RWDSU members in 2008.

Fighting for Meadowcraft workes in 2009.

In 2012, retail workers at Bloomingdale’s in New York City won LGBT nondiscrimination language for the first time.

Hi-Tek carwasheros won an historic first RWDSU contract in 2013.

And, in 2015, the New York City Council passed the Car Wash Accountability Act.

And, in 2016, over 1,000 workers at Zara, one of the world's largest retailers, joined RWDSU Local 1102 at stores throughout New York City.

And, in July, 2017, Guitar Center workers successfully ratified their first RWDSU contract, bringing them protections and benefits that they had never before enjoyed.