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Union Label

Union Label and Service Trades Department, AFL-CIO
Founded	March 30, 1909
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Location	United States
President	Rich Kline
Key people	James H. Dunn, Secretary-Treasurer
Parent organization	AFL–CIO
Website	unionlabel.org

The Union Label and Service Trades Department, AFL–CIO was founded on April 12, 1909, to promote the products and services produced in America by trade union members—especially those products and services identified by a union label, shop card, store card and/or service button. The department is a constitutionally mandated department of the AFL–CIO.

The department's offices are located at the AFL–CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C. The department has many state and local councils and committees, and works closely with AFL–CIO state and local labor bodies to carry out its functions.

Activities

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The ULS&TD primary function is to promote the union label. These emblems demonstrate that the employees who make the product or provide the service are union workers, and that they are treated fairly by their employers.

The ULS&TD also coordinates national boycotts that have been endorsed by the AFL–CIO executive council. The department maintains and publishes the "Do Not Buy" list of companies being boycotted and the products and services involved. The Label Letter publication is the most visible means the department uses to publicize boycott updates. The Label Letter features special interest stories, alerts, a "Do Buy" section, and other information of interest. Member unions of the AFL–CIO and their local affiliates often reproduce sections and articles of the newsletter to spreading the "union label message" to union members and their families.

One of the more widely known activities of the department is the annual AFL–CIO Union-Industries Show. Held in a different city each year, the show is a cooperative effort of unions and the companies with which they have contracts. Unions and employers exhibit union-made and American-made products and services. Free to the public, the event often draws large crowds.

ULS&TD also exclusively endorses the "Shop Union Made" website as an "official" Internet shopping site for union-made products and services.

Leadership

Presidents

1909: John Brown Lennon

1911: John F. Tobin

1916: John W. Hays

1926: George William Perkins

1934: Matthew Woll

1956: John J. Mara

1960: Richard F. Walsh

1975: Joseph D. Keenan

1980: John E. Mara

1982: James E. Hatfield

1997: Charles Mercer

2008: Richard Kline

Secretary-Treasurers

1909: Thomas F. Tracy

1917: John J. Manning

1932: George W. Perkins

1933: John J. Manning

1934: Ira M. Ornbum

1950: Raymond F. Leheney

1957: Joseph Lewis

1971: Edward P. Murphy

1976: Earl D. McDavid

1982: John E. Mara

1988: Sidney Heller

1989: Richard J. Perry

1994: Charles E. Mercer

1997: Dennis L. Kivikko

2003: Matthew C. Bates

2000s: James H. Dunn

References

1. "Union Industries Show features American-made goods". nwlaborpress.org. Retrieved 2024-11-29.
2. ^ "RG40. AFL-CIO. Union Label and Service Trades Department". University Libraries. University of Maryland. Retrieved 5 April 2023.

Sources

• Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 3: The Policies and Practices of the American Federation of Labor, 1900–1909. New York: International Publishers, 1964. ISBN 0-7178-0093-8
• Maurice F. Neufeld. "Structure and Government of the AFL–CIO." Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 9:3 (April 1956).
• Union Industries Show features American-made goods. nwlaborpress.org. Retrieved 2024-11-29.

External links

• Union Label Dept. website
• "Union Label and Service Trades Department, Secretary-Treasurer's records" at the University of Maryland Libraries

• AFL-CIO
• Trade unions in the United States
• 1909 establishments in the United States
• Trade unions established in 1909