Labor & Employment Law

Get Ready for Buy Union Week, Nov. 26?Dec. 5

By James Parks

In these difficult times, it makes sense for union families to use their power to help keep good union jobs in the community by purchasing union-made goods and services. The AFL-CIO Union Label & Service Trades Department (UL&STD) has designated the 10 days following Thanksgiving, Nov. 26 ?Dec. 5, as ?Buy Union? week to encourage union members to look for union-made goods and services when they buy for the holiday season.

Holiday shopping traditionally kicks off on the day after Thanksgiving, also known as ?Black Friday,? because it begins the holiday shopping season when many retailers move from red ink to black on their balance sheets. This year, shoppers will find plenty of ?bargains? even before the holidays.

But UL&STD President Richard Kline says union family shoppers should look beyond the foreign-made electronics, trendy toys and gadgets to find enduring goods that are union made.

Buy Union Week comes this year in a time of economic hardship for many Americans. Outsourcing of work to foreign lands has been costly to working people and their families, communities and government.

Observing Buy Union Week  and seeking out and purchasing union-made products and services strengthens the U.S. economy as a whole, while it supports our union brothers and sisters and their employers.

 If you can?t find the right gift for that hard-to-buy-for person on your list, you can purchase a gift card for union productions, such as movies or sports events, or union-made foods such as candies, baked goods, spirits and specialty items.

Start your shopping list with a visit to the Union Label website, www.unionlabel.org, and click on Search for Union Products to see if a product is union made and what union produces it. If you can?t find what you?re looking for there, move on to the websites of individual unions that show up as links on the page.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on November 14, 2010 (boomark / email).