The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) is the largest private sector trade union in Australia, representing retail, fast-food and warehousing workers, and has branches in every state and territory. Its membership is predominantly in casual and insecure employment within the retail and fast food sectors. The union also represents a significant membership of workers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The main categories of workers covered by the SDA are retail, fast food and warehousing workers but the SDA also covers reserve and backdock employees, pharmacies, footwear repairing, modelling, and hairdressing/beauty. The SDA has overlapping with other trade unions and their areas of coverage, such as the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union in the case of retail meat employees and the United Workers Union's coverage of warehousing employees and bakers employees. The SDA has branches across Australia. There is the Victorian Branch; New South Wales & ACT Branch; Newcastle & Northern Branch; Queensland Branch; South Australian/Northern Territory & Broken Hill Branch; Western Australian Branch; and the Tasmanian Branch. The SDA is affiliated to several organisations, which include the Australian Labor Party (ALP), the Australian Council of Trade Unions, and the global union federation, UNI Global Union. Through its affiliation to the ALP, the union has maintained strong political involvement. History Early history During the 1890s and the early 1900s, the predecessors of the SDA first came into existence in most states, particularly through 'Early Closing Associations' focused on restricting shop trading hours. These Associations had begun campaigning for a reduction in working hours from 14 to 12 hours a day as early as 1844. In 1908, unions representing retail and warehousing workers in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia combined to become the Shop Assistants and Warehouse Employees Federation of Australia. It was registered as a union under the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904. Over time, unions in Tasmania, Newcastle, Broken Hill and Western Australia became part of the national union. In 1972, the union changed its name to the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association. Groupers and women In the 1940s and 50s, the union was involved with "grouper" unions, named after the Australian Labor Party's (ALP) Industrial Groups that were organised to counter communists in the unions. These unions de-affiliated themselves with the Victorian ALP during the ALP split of 1955. The SDA re-affiliated with the Australian Labor Party in the 1980s "as