| UFCW Local 1776 | |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Members: | Approximately 20,000 |
| Full Name: | United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1776 |
| Founded: | 1937 |
| Parent Organization: | United Food and Commercial Workers |
| Headquarters: | Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania (Main) Pittston, Pennsylvania (North East) Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (South Central) Mountain Top, Pennsylvania (Mountain Top) Canonsburg, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) |
| Key People: | Wendell W. Young IV, President |
| Website: | www.ufcw1776.org |
UFCW Local 1776 represents workers in the state of Pennsylvania for the United Food and Commercial Workers. The larger majority of their members work in grocery stores. The number 1776 refers to the year that the United States Declaration of Independence was drafted in Philadelphia, rather than it being a sequential number of local unions.
In 1937, The Retail Clerks & Managers Protective Association (retail clerks) Local 1357 was founded in Philadelphia by employees of American Stores and A&P. In 1963, Local 1357 of the retail clerks had 4,000 members in Philadelphia area supermarkets. By the end of the decade, through the organizing power of president Wendell Young III over 10,000 non-food retail workers and department store employees joined Local 1357.
In 1971, Pennsylvania State Liquor Store clerks joined the ranks of the expanding union. In 1979 the Retail Clerks International Association had merged with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters to create the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union.[1]
Retail food