Labels

Button with the UFW logo and the words "Buy Union Grapes: Union Label"

Overview

Union labels have a long history in the labor movement to promote unionism and enlist consumer's support in maintaining better wages and working conditions.  There is even a song Links to an external site. about union labels by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU).  During the 1960s grape boycott the UFW logo was affixed to grapes produced by growers with union contracts, creating a clearly identifiable way for consumers to express solidarity with farm workers.

The images below show Larry Itliong and Cesar Chavez promoting the UFW union labor.  While Chavez was its most visible leader, Itliong was a central figure in the grape strike and union efforts to organize agricultural laborers all along the West Coast.  Itliong was a leader in the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), and it was Filipino workers in AWOC that initiated the Delano grape strike in 1965. In 1966 AWOC and the NFWA (National Farm Workers Association) merged to form the UFW.

Questions

  • How do union labels bring consumers into the labor movement?
  • What role does the art on the label play in communicating the UFW message?

Black and white image of Larry Itliong holding a UFW union label

 

Black and white image of Cesar Chavez holding a UFW union label

Union label pin.   Labor Archives Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Union label Itliong.   Labor Archives Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Union label Chavez.  Labor Archives Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Mabalon, Dawn B.  Journey for Justice:  The Life of Larry Itliong Links to an external site.. Bridge & Delta Publishers, 2018.

Look for the Union Label 1978 Links to an external site. ILGWU ad. YouTube. Uploaded by the UAW 2018.