United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No 700 history

A major reorganization of the Retail Clerks Locals began in 1968.

In 1970, State Labor Commissioner Norman Nilsen appointed an investigative committee to study gender discrimination practices in Oregon workplaces.

With the election of 1973 came a new President of REU Local 1092, Dan Fortune, a Fred Meyer employee.

In 1974, a Professional Employees Division was established within the union which caused a rapid growth in membership in health care fields and related professions.

The summer of 1978 will be known as the year of the Portland Grocery Strike.

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 economic standards as well as the working conditions for barbers and beauticians has dramatically improved since the union’s founding, and continued to improve after the union merged with the United Food and Commercial Workers in September 1980.

In 1987, after strong pressure from the UFCW, the United States Department of Occupational Safety and Health expanded hazard communication standards to provide information and training for hair care workers, further bettering the working environment for barbers and beauticians.

By January 1990, the union is successful in limiting the number of pharmacy technicians each pharmacist supervises, increasing wages and equalizing pay for all Fred Meyer pharmacists across Oregon and Southwest Washington.

In early 2005, Human Rights Watch released a report entitled “Blood, Sweat, and Fear: Workers’ Rights in United States Meat and Poultry Plants,” which concluded that the working conditions in many of America’s meat packing plants violated basic human and worker rights.

Despite the merit of the case, the co-op’s management did not admit to any of the allegations brought against it in the unfair labor practice charge filed by the UFCW Local 555 in November, 2012.