Retail Wholesale Union (RWU)

The Retail Wholesale Union is an Industrial Union. This means that every worker engaged by a common employer may participate in the collective bargaining process with that employer for the betterment of all.

In 1981 the membership of the three active Locals of the Union (Locals 580, 517, and 470) finalized their disaffiliation from the International Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and formed the Retail Wholesale Union in B.C.

The Canadian Area of the ILWU has given support and understanding of our concerns while providing the means for our affiliation to the B.C. Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress.