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
