Merger of Three Food Union Locals Moves Step Closer

Expected merger of three major Los Angeles-area food industry union locals was a step closer as retail clerks of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to approve it.

Union spokesman Dan Swinton said the combined vote in favor of merger during two meetings by the 25,000-member local was 86.4%. Butchers Local 274 and Meat Cutters Local 421, with a total of about 7,000 members, will vote in May.

The UFCW was formed in 1978 when the Retail Clerks International Assn. and the Amalgamated Meat Cutters merged. At that time, leaders expressed hope that by 1988 all locals under their jurisdiction in the United States and Canada would be joined to give them greater bargaining power.