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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Two Unions Studying Possible Merger

From Staff And Wire Reports

The United Food and Commercial Workers and the Communications Workers of America have begun talking about a merger.

Morton Bahr, president of the CWA, and two UFCW officials confirmed that each union had formed a merger committee and that the committees met for the first time on Monday.

“The discussions center around the potential of forming a new union that’s based around community organizing,” Bahr said.

On the surface, the two unions have few similarities. CWA, which has about a half-million members, represents primarily telephone and communications workers; the UFCW represents grocery store workers and retail clerks.

But both represent workers employed in growth areas of the economy, and UFCW President Doug Dority and Bahr formed a close personal relationship when they both supported interim AFL-CIO President Thomas Donahue against John Sweeney, who took over the federation.