In a historic vote, the memberships of UFCW Locals 1444 and 73a overwhelmingly approved their merger to form the new UFCW Local 1473. The vote meetings were held on Tuesday May 23, 2006. The two unions conducted voting at 15 separate locations at 10:00 am and 7:00pm throughout Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan. Membership attending these meetings were given copies of the merger agreement and the new bylaws for their consideration.
After reviewing the documents, membership at each location overwhelmingly voted to approve the new local union which became effective June 1, 2006. Local 1473 begins it’s existence with nearly 17,000 members which makes it the largest local union in the State of Wisconsin.
Both of the Local unions can trace their roots back to the early 1930's. Throughout the years, each local union went through numerous mergers which created larger, stronger, local unions. Local 73A was affiliated with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workman of North America, and Local 1444 and its predecessors was affiliated with the Retail Clerks International Union. In 1979, these International unions merged to form the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union which opened the door for many more mergers between the local unions who had at one time belonged to separate International unions. Dan Welch, former President of Local 1444 said, “In the past 21 years that I have been President, I have talked to every President of Local 73a about merging our unions. Unfortunately, there was never enough interest until now. Both of our unions understand that our employers have been consolidating with larger companies which gives them a tremendous advantage. The only way to confront that challenge is to become larger and stronger ourselves.” John Eiden, former President of Local 73a said,” I am very proud of the dedicated team of men and women from Local 73a and 1444 whom we have now brought together to serve this great union. Our goal is to make our members as proud of us as we are of them.“
Once the merger had been approved by the individual Executive Boards and then the respective memberships, it was time to formally bring the two unions and their staffs together. Local 73a had a much older building in Milwaukee, located at 35th and St. Paul Ave. Local 1444 has a modern updated building located at a prime location in Milwaukee at 2001 N. Mayfair Rd. So the decision was made and approved by the new executive board to sell the 73A building.
Local 1444 membership had approved numerous remodels and additions to the facility to insure that additional space would be available in the event of a merger or significant growth. That foresight paid off well as there was adequate space for all of the former 73a staff members to move in. The big move occurred on Friday June 2 when the moving truck arrived to move the mountains of files, furniture, and equipment necessary to run a large local union.
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| It was a busy day as records and furniture were moved to the new building |
The new location in the former Local
1444 building at 2001 N. Mayfair Rd., Milwaukee |
It was a chaotic time as everyone worked to make the move as seamless as possible so that the day to day operations of the local union would not be effected.. It was further complicated, though by the necessary installation of a new computer system which had been previously approved by the Local 1444 membership. All of the computer files from Local 73a had to be properly formatted so that they could be added to the new system and the preliminary work had been going on for over 30 days. The new equipment was installed over the June 3rd and 4th weekend so that it would be up and running on Monday June 5 when all of the clerical employees would start their training which would continue for most of that week.
(The new Executive Board of Local 1473)
On Wednesday, June 7, the new Executive Board of Local 1473 met for the first time at the Mayfair Rd office. The first meeting was crammed with establishing and approving all of the new policies and practices that are required to effectively run a large local union. The new board wisely selected what they felt were the best policies from each of the former local unions and made any change and improvement that made the new Local union even more effective.
The new Executive Board of Local 1473
is comprised of the combined boards of the two merged unions. The newly
elected officers, whose three year terms began on June 1, 2006 are:
| President | John Eiden |
| Secretary-Treasurer | Grant Withers |
| Recorder | Dale Seianas |
| Vice Presidents | Richard Andersen Piggly Wiggly, Racine Bonnie Anderson, Skogen’s Festival Foods, Marshfield Susan Baren Pick n’ Save, Milwaukee Linda Denter Pick n’ Save, Waukesha JoAnn Dewart, Aurora Lakeland Medical Center Mike Dixon, Patrick Cudahy, Milwaukee Catherine Fliss, Wisconsin Vision, Sheboygan Theresa Hengst, Cub Foods, Madison Rod Hutkowski, McCain Foods, Plover Dennis Kerl, Woodman’s, Janesville Francisco Martin, Local 1473 Staff Kim Mason, Nestle’s, Eau Claire Dean Mentink, Piggly Wiggly, Sheboygan Robert Moreno, Piggly Wiggly, Racine\ Millicent Patrick, Jewel Foods, Milwaukee Patricia Petzold, Pick n’ Save, Waukesha Cecilia Prickett, Local 1473 Staff James Ridderbush, Packerland Packing, Green Bay Susan Schmidt, Wisconsin Physician Services, Madison James Schroeder, Piggly Wiggly, Racine Scott Spearo, Jewel Foods, Milwaukee Allen Spitzner, Local 1473 Staff Susan Wagner, Bethel Home, Oshkosh Karen Williams, Cub Foods |
These vice presidents come from diverse occupations from all over the State of Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and they represent years and years of experience in participating in the operation of their former unions which they will now utilize to benefit all of the 17,000 members of the new Local 1473.
As this issue of the Monitor went to press, there was still a lot to be done. Inside the building, there were still a lot of boxes of records and equipment that need to be properly stored or possibly disposed of. Externally, however, the day to day servicing will continue as in the past while the new union determines what changes might be necessary to best serve the membership.
The leadership also determined that for the time being the new union will continue to use the “Monitor”, which is published bi-monthly and sent to all members and retirees as the official publication of the new union. This was the same format previously used by Local 1444. In the future, the format and possibly the name might change, but the bimonthly communication with the members will continue.
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