Do You Look at Labels?

Look for the union label
when you are buying that coat, dress or blouse.

Remember somewhere our union’s sewing,
our wages going to feed the kids, and run the house.

We work hard, but who’s complaining?
Thanks to the I.L.G. we’re paying our way!

So always look for the union label,
It says we’re able to make it in the U.S.A.!

Do you remember this song from the 1970s commercial for the former International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union? As a child, I remember running around the house endlessly singing the catchy jingle and not really knowing what it meant.

But labels and tags get my attention these days. I want to be informed of what I’m buying. I want to know if the product came from thousands of miles away or if it was made in my own backyard. I want to feel confident that it doesn’t contain harmful chemicals or lead or anything else that is questionable, and that it wasn’t made by underpaid or underage workers in a sweatshop.

When I see Made in the U.S.A. on a product’s label, it lets me know, that for the most part, the money I’m spending is staying in the U.S.A., and that the item was made by a hardworking fellow American who was paid a fair wage and works, we hope, under humane conditions.

We can learn a lot from labels.