ABOUT UFCW 951

About UFCW 951

UFCW 951 is a dynamic labor union representing over 29,000 workers across the state of Michigan. UFCW 951 members work for a variety of employers including Grandville Roasting and Packaging, Harding’s, JBS, JLL, Knouse Foods, Kroger, Meijer, Polly’s and Rite Aid. UFCW 951 belongs to the UFCW International Union, one of the largest private-sector unions in the country.

UFCW 951’s mission is to improve the lives of our members, their families and all working men and women. Unions are the best assurance that all workers are treated fairly, equally and with dignity and respect. The future of Michigan’s working families depends upon a united voice that can stand up to powerful and greedy corporate interests.

UFCW 951 members are:

ADVOCATES for grocery, retail, meat packing and food processing workers.

A COLLECTIVE VOICE for working people and the middle class.

A UNION of worker-activists, fighting for social and economic justice and the American Dream.

THE HISTORY OF UFCW 951

When UFCW 951 was chartered by the federal government in September 1951, it was known as the Consolidated Independent Union (CIU). Local 951 was chartered by the federal government in 1951, hence the name “951”. At that time, the local union was not affiliated with an International Union and operated as a consolidated independent union representing 200 West Michigan Meijer workers.

A campaign to end Local 951’s status as an independent union began in 1972. It took six years and two affiliation votes, but in 1978 the now 7,000 Local 951 members voted to join the Retail Clerks International Union (RCIU) giving additional strength and voice to the membership.

The following year, the RCIU merged with the Meat Cutter and Butcher Workmen to form the United Food and Commercial Workers, (UFCW) one of the largest international unions in the country.

The 1980s brought additional growth and diversity to UFCW 951. In 1981, members of UFCW Local 20 voted to merge with UFCW 951. The following year, members of UFCW Local 36 made the same decision. These two mergers brought an additional 3,500 members to UFCW 951, expanding the employers and industries represented by the local. In addition to Meijer employees, UFCW 951 now represented workers at other grocery chains, as well as drug stores and food processing plants

UFCW 951 has continued to grow its membership, not through mergers, but through successful organizing campaigns, where formerly non-union workers vote to join UFCW 951.

Today, UFCW 951 is the largest UFCW local in Michigan and is one of the top five UFCW locals with the highest retail membership in the country.