The paper reviews a case of local/international union conflict in the settlement of a supermarket strike and suggests that the assertion of local labor interests is central to the revival of U.S. unionism. The strike was led by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) against the Meijer supermarket chain in Toledo, Ohio in 1994. The eight and one-half week strike ended when representatives of the UFCW international accepted a contract that differed little from the company's original offer. The strike cost the international a considerable sum in benefits paid to the strikers, but the international also reportedly feared that the strike would endanger organizing campaigns in other supermarkets and in discount department stores. However, local organizers and many workers felt betrayed by what they perceived as the international's intrusive and premature settlement of the strike. Their reactions raise the question of whether, in settling the strike, the international risked the loss of worker support within the union and in new organizing arenas.
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