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Label-Consciousness

This page of union emblems is from a 1900 issue of the Piano, Organ and Musical Instrument Workers’ Official Journal. I came upon it by accident, so it’s hard to know if it would have caught my eye in the same way, had unions not been so in the news these days.

The union label originated in 1869 when the Carpenter’s Eight-Hour League in San Francisco used a stamp to identify products from mills employing men on the eight-hour day. Other, non-unionized mills, operated with a 10-hour workday.

The individual union labels below, are from The New York State Archives, and from the Labor Archives and Research Center of San Francisco State University. For more about the history of union labels, and the “hand-in-hand” symbol of the AFL-CIO, check out the site of art historian, Kim Munson.

Cigar Dealers Association of America


Associated Master Barbers of America


Greater New York Watchmakers Association


Suspender Maker's Benevolent Union


United Photographic Employees Local Industrial Union


Hebrew Butcher Workmen Union No. 1 of New York


International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers


Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union


International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers


Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers


American Brotherhood of Cement Workers


Professional and Technical Engineers, International Chemical Workers Union


International Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union of America


Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers


Typographical Union


International Brotherhood of Bookbinders


Laundry and Dry Cleaning International Union


International Jewelry Workers Union
International Glove Workers of America


Piano, Organ and Musical Instrument Workers International Union of America


Carriage and Wagon Workers International Union


Coopers International Union


Farmers and Market Gardners Union


United Brewery Workmen