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UFCW LOCAL 555 STRONG AND PROUD
 
 
THE PORTLAND CONNECTION

The Portland connection to Local 555 began in 1936 with the creation of Local 1092, started by seven grocery clerks. They were reacting to the pitiful lot of Portland Area grocery clerks, who worked as long as 72 hours a week for around $14.00. They had no job protection, no guaranteed breaks, no paid holidays and no benefits. Premium pay for Sunday or night work was unheard of. Paid vacations were for other people.
 
These seven clerks decided to try to do something about it. Tom Lenhart was elected President, and Malcom MacCloud, Secretary-Treasurer. It took nearly a year of meetings and sign-ups before the group felt able to apply for a Charter from the Retail Clerks International Association. It was granted on December 28, 1936, and Grocery Clerks Local 1092 was formed.

The fight had just begun. They had some success organizing the large independent grocers of whom there were many. Most of them were now paying higher wages for shorter work weeks, which were still closer to 72 hours than 40. The big chain operations were hostile, and refused either to recognize or bargain with the Union. Their employees were wary of joining for fear it would "cost them their job".

TEAMSTERS COME TO THE RESCUE

The big breakthrough came with the aid of the Teamsters. They went to the chains and issued an ultimatum: "No union recognition, no deliveries." Very soon after that the employers formed their own association, Food Employers, Inc., to deal with the upstart Union.
The new Local began to pick up steam. At a single mass meeting several hundred clerks signed membership cards. In February of 1937 negotiations for a contract began. Within a year the clerks were engaged in their first strike. They were out from May to September. The final Settlement gave them $2.50 a week increase in wages.

WOMEN ENTER THE WORKFORCE

The decade of the 1940's passed swiftly. These were the war years, and a good portion of the membership was away in military service. The women grocers became an accepted part of contract language. Two breaks for her in the work day was a part of the industry. Wage, price controls and rationing were the order of the times.
 
BENEFITS INCREASE

There was much activity as the 1950's unfolded. The Pharmacists were organized, and for a period the Local was called the Food and Drug Clerks Union. A short and bitter strike occurred in 1952. A major issue was medical insurance. The cause was lost, however, when a few clerks with company insurance took a small wage increase, and forced a settlement which withheld a medical trust for the entire membership. However, company paid medical was a benefit whose time had come. In the 1957 negotiations, an Employer paid trust for the membership became a fact. A third week of vacation after ten years, and a company paid sick leave came at the same time. A Journeyman Clerk's wages had improved by the mid 1950's to $1.31 per hour.

PENSIONS AND DENTAL CARE BECOME A REALITY

Urban explosion into the suburbs was rampant by the 1960's and the employers made the move with the population. Step by step the members gained benefits that helped keep more of their paychecks in their pockets, and their contracts exceeded those of most labor groups. The Portland clerks gained a pension, dental care and prescription drug benefits.

LIGHTOWLER DYNASTY ENDS

George Lightowler, a long time Union Activist, served as Secretary Treasurer of the local from 1940 until he retired, because of ill health, in 1963.

The leadership reins were handed to Gordon Swope who served as Secretary Treasurer and later as President until 1974. During this period great strides were made in wages, contract language and benefits. Journeyman wages went from $2.80 per hour in 1966 to $3.92 in 1970. During the early 70's all unions were traumatized by the Nixon wage and price guidelines which restricted pay increases to 5.5%, while allowing inflation to rise with few restrictions. 


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