Look for the Union Label

Union Made Cigars

In the 1870’s unions were beginning to assert themselves as prominent and influential organizations on the national level. They applauded themselves for establishing better working conditions and pay as well as demanding the best quality and workmanship. Union made goods were sometimes a little more expensive because of the fair wages being paid to the union workers, and many business people decided to take advantage of the higher priced goods and exploit cheap labor from prisons, tenement houses, immigrants and sweatshops.

Union workers put the union label on their products to assure consumers of the quality and cleanliness of their products. Products which were made in tenement house, sweatshops, and prisons were poorly made, and oftentimes exploited child labor.  The union label assured that the people who created the products were fairly treated and well paid and also that the product was held to the highest standards of quality.

The first industry to adopt the union label was the Cigar Makers in 1874. They were followed by “the United Hatters of North America (1885), Knights of Labor (1884), and United Garment Workers of America (1891)”  and “before the turn of the century… printers, bakers, wood workers, harness makers, iron molders, broom makers, coopers, photographers, shoemakers, custom tailors, mattress makers, horseshoers, brewers, egg inspectors, barbers, and coal distributors.”