1262 Facts & Media Contact Info

Members of the media can contact UFCW Local 1262 Communications Director

Cynthia McCarthy at 973-777-3700, ext. 1926 or via email at cmccarthy@ufcwlocal1262.org.

UFCW LOCAL 1262 FACTS AT A GLANCE

• Represents more than 25,000 members, making it one of the largest locals of the United Food & Commercial Workers International.
• Represents workers employed by ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Foodtown, Acme, Morton Williams, Food Bazaar, Dearborn Market and many others.
• Also represents members in the food industry such as the cafeteria workers of the Hudson City (NY) School District.
• Local 1262’s territory spans Northern New Jersey and Western NY State -- from Monmouth and Ocean Counties north to include the Western Side of the Hudson River Valley up to Albany.
• UFCW Local 1262 was first chartered by the Retail Clerks International Association in 1941.

A Brief History of Local 1262 & The Supermarket Industry

UFCW Local 1262 was first chartered by the Retail Clerks International Association in 1941. Today it is one of the largest local unions with some 25,000 members.

Prior to World War II retail food workers in the Northern New Jersey and Metro New York area were employed in “Mom and Pop” food outlets that were small and only employed a few workers per store. After World War II, the age of the supermarket and giant food retailers began, as veterans returning from the War began to take advantage of growth and a change in lifestyle which fostered many communities and encouraged the building of larger stores with more employees.

The full effect of the age of the modern supermarket increased the sale of retail food and in the 1950s and 1960s many new methods of food merchandising began to change the complexion of the retail food industry.

Modern technology has always entered the supermarket industry at a fast pace. The introduction of the universal product code (UPC), which is now applied to almost every item of merchandise sold in the United States, had its beginning in the supermarket industry, and in particular, in the State of New Jersey and in UFCW Local 1262.

Since then, the growth of giant food merchandisers has grown significantly, year by year with the face of the modern supermarket ever changing to meet customers’ needs.

To protect the rights of individual employees and to see to it that their progress in their working careers parallels the growth of the companies they work for, UFCW Local 1262 regularly negotiates pacesetting new contracts that take the rights of individual workers and put them into contract language that ensures equal treatment for all in the workplace.

The members of UFCW Local 1262 are joined each day by new workers who have come into the Local Union, either by gaining employment with a Unionized employer, or by being part of successful efforts to organize non-union employers.