Promoting the Union Label

The Union Label and Service Trades Department (ULSTD) of the AFL-CIO was founded in 1909 for the purpose of promoting the goods produced and the services provided by union members. Every year since 1948, the ULSTD has produced the Union-Industries Show, which is intended to highlight the broad spectrum of products and services that are provided by unionized workers.

This year the show took place in Cleveland, Ohio from May 5th to 7th and was re-branded as America @ Work, followed by the tag-line: “100% Union-Made, American-Made Products, Services and Jobs”. The new name was an attempt to give the show a more modern look and reflect the fact that over one-half of the attendees to the 2005 show were not union members,
but were sympathetic to the union movement.

As in past years, the IATSE display was extremely popular with the public as we highlighted the work of our highly skilled members. Souvenir photographs were produced for the attendees that magically placed them into scenes from major motion pictures.

Our thanks go to the members of Locals 27, 160 and 883, which helped assemble the display and staff the booth during the show. As always, our deepest appreciation goes to Keith Marshall, President of Local 311 who for the past number of years has ensured that the entire operation has gone smoothly.

The ultimate purpose of the America @ Work show is to demonstrate to the general public that unions and their members make positive contributions to society. Union members are men and women involved in making many of the products and providing many of the services that people use every day.

In keeping with this philosophy, the International has been taking a much more active role in promoting our union to both the general public and members of industry-related organizations. Not only do we continue to exhibit at the Union-Industries show, we have also begun to exhibit at such shows as Lighting and Dimensions International (LDI), EXHIBITOR 2006 and United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT).

This type of outreach has been beneficial to us as a union. At each and every show we have received positive feedback from not only our members that visit our booth but also non-members and various industry participants. They recognize our importance and stature and they welcome our involvement.

As we continue to expand our promotional program I encourage you to recognize and support the promotional activities of our sister unions in both the AFL-CIO and CLC by purchasing union-made products whenever possible. For more information go to the Union Label and Service Trades Department Web site at www.unionlabel.org.