The Retail Clerks International Union (RCIU) was a

labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

that represented retail employees.

History

The RCIU was chartered as the "Retail Clerks National Protective Union" in 1890 by the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...

. It later adopted the name Retail Clerks International Association, and subsequently became the Retail Clerks International Union. In 1979, the Retail Clerks merged with the

Amalgamated Meat Cutters The Amalgamated Meat Cutters (AMC), officially the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, 1897–1979, was a labor union that represented retail and packinghouse workers. In 1979, the AMCBW merged with the Retail Clerks I ...

to form the

United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hosp ...

. In 1934 the RCIU created a local chapter in Milwaukee, which quickly grew to over 600 members. Soon after the RCIU petitioned the Boston Store to raise employee wages for its men and women and to also officially recognize the union, a move that the store's management refused with the justification that only a few of the department store employees were union members. The union began striking on November 30, 1934 and the number of picketers soon swelled to over 1,500 picketers, which helped the strike gain national attention. Over time the protest began to unravel as some picketers began to act out by assaulting

strikebreaker A strikebreaker (sometimes called a scab, blackleg, or knobstick) is a person who works despite a strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who were not employed by the company before the trade union dispute but hired after or during the st ...

s and

stink bomb A stink bomb, sometimes called a stinkpot, is a device designed to create an unpleasant smell. They range in effectiveness from being used as simple pranks to military grade malodorants or riot control chemical agents. History A stink bomb ...

ing the store, which led to arrests. In response the Boston Store ran full-page ads in local newspapers giving their side of their story, a move that was met with a similar full-page ad by The Federated Trades Commission in the ''

Milwaukee Leader The ''Milwaukee Leader'' was a socialist daily newspaper established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in December 1911 by Socialist Party leader Victor L. Berger. The paper continued in operation until January 1939, when it was succeeded by the ''Milwauke ...

''. However as the store's management was unwilling to meet the union's demands, the union lost their ground when most of the union workers returned to their jobs. On January 11, 1935 the strike officially ended with none of the demands met and the store's only concession being merit-based bonuses for the strikers. In late 1957 and most of 1958, there was a 13-month-long strike against three department stores in Toledo,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, Lasalle & Koch, Lamson's, and

Lion Store Lion Store (founded in 1857 as Frederick Eaton & Co. and incorporated in 1890 as The Lion Dry Goods Co.) was a Toledo, Ohio department store chain. Mercantile Stores operated the chain from 1914 until its 1998 acquisition by Dillard's, which reti ...

, by the Retail Clerks International Association. The strike was settled by a "Statement of Understanding" under which the striking workers were reinstated to their jobs but the union was not recognized. The

Boot and Shoe Workers' Union The Boot and Shoe Workers' Union was a trade union of workers in the footwear manufacturing industry in the United States and Canada. It was established in 1895 by the merger of three older unions. It was affiliated with the American Federation o ...

merged with the Retail Clerks International Union in 1977.

Leaders

The senior official was initially the general secretary, later the secretary-treasurer. From 1953, it was the president. :1891: W. S. Pittman :1893: Ed Mallory :1895: Max Morris :1909: H. J. Conway :1926: C. C. Coulter :1947:

James Suffridge James A. Suffridge (February 2, 1909 – June 7, 2001) was an American labor unionist. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Suffridge's father encouraged him to box as a child. James then followed his father in becoming a grocer, moving to Oakland, ...

:1968: James Housewright :1977: William H. Wynn

References

External links

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History

Leaders

References

External links

Archives

Further reading