Vol. XXXIV, No.

6
Nov-Dec 2009
Label Letter
Union Label & Service Trades Department, AFL-CIO

What Happens Hey, Dude: Where’s My Job?

in China Affects
New York
Shanghai Wins
Rochester Loses

T
he 2009 report of the U.S.–
China Commission focuses the
first chapter of its report on
the fate of upstate New York—
embracing the cities of Buffalo,
Syracuse and Rochester—where
400,000 manufacturing jobs disap-
peared between 1990 and 2005. The
study points out that, on the surface,
the region actually added 450,000
jobs in health care and education
over that period, but at the same time
the average manufacturing salary of
$62,000 a year was replaced with

an average salary in education and
health care of $46,000 annually.
Lose Manufacturing and
You Lose Innovation
In testimony gathered by the
Commission, academics and econo-
mists noted that even more impor-
tantly, in the words of Rochester
Institute of Technology Prof. Ron Hira,
“Innovation and technology are inex-
tricably linked to manufacturing. Lose
manufacturing and you’re going to lose
innovation.”
Actual events bear that statement
out. Since 1998, three of the region’s
largest high tech employers have
located research facilities in Shanghai:
Kodak, Dow and GE.
Several other observations in the
report underscore why the relationship
between the U.S. and China is expect-
ed to become even more problematic
in the near future. China’s economy is
based on exporting to generate wealth.
Exporting activity now accounts for
continued on page 6 ▶▶
W
all Street is on the mend, but
Main Street still wallows in the
throes of recession. More than
26 million American workers
want gainful employment, but the jobs
just aren’t there. The Labor Department
says the U.S. lost another 263,000 jobs in
September—and a total of 8 million jobs
during two years of the current recession.
Job losses averaged 146,000 a month for
the first half of 2008.
So, where are those jobs? Most are
outside the U.S. in many of the countries
that have benefited from last January’s
stimulus package. The majority of the
new cars sold to U.S. consumers in
the “Cash for Clunkers” program, for
instance, came from Japan and Korea.
China is providing much of the hard-
ware for wind turbines to supply the
alternative energy industry. And, by
some accounts, all the dreams of “smart
grids” and “new transportation technol-
ogy” will depend on products made by
foreign sources because the U.S. just
doesn’t make much anymore.
“We cannot afford to do nothing,”
AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka said
as he unveiled the federation’s job cre-
ation plan. “We can’t afford to go back
to an economy built on stagnant wages,
inequality and consumer debt. We need to
create good jobs that support families and
communities.”
However, according to most indicators,
“nothing” is exactly what the U.S. has
been doing with regard to jobs, manu-
facturing and energy independence—the
cornerstones of the new economy.
A report jointly produced by the
Breakthrough Institute and the Information
Technology and the Innovation Foundation,
asserts that Asia’s “clean tech tigers”—
China, Japan and Korea—are already on
the cusp of establishing a “first mover
advantage over the United States in the
global clean tech industry.”
Until recently, a massive $1.5 billion
wind farm project in Texas was poised to
buy thousands of windmills from China
using stimulus money. Objections from
members of Congress and concerned citi-
zens persuaded developers to include $50
million in their plan to establish a domes-
tic windmill factory, creating 1,000 U.S.
jobs in the process.
continued on page 3 ▶▶
 Previewing the UL&STD
Business to Union Website
B-T-U: Announcing the Union Label
Department’s Business-to-Union Directory
The Union Label Department is developing a special Business-to-Union data base to connect union buyers
(international, national, local and union-affiliated organizations) with union companies serving institutional needs.
For the time being, readers who wish to add a company to this list should go on the Union Label website. In the left
column, there is a prompt that reads: “Click Here to add product/service.” Click there and fill out the online form. All
submissions will be verified with the appropriate parent union before they can be officially added to the list.

Unions Are Good

for Business
Business is Good
for Unions

Many businesses specialize in offering union products and
union services to unions. These are companies that “walk
the walk.” Union employers selling to unions and allied
organizations deserve special consideration because they’re
conducting their business the right way, employing union
members under a collective bargaining agreement, provid-
ing decent wages and benefits. They take pride in the quality
of the products and the services they provide because they
know that their own union workers give them a competitive
edge. They’re supporting the union label, we should, too.
Your union officers also have to be good stewards of the
members’ money. There’s enough honest competition
out there for all these products and services to shop and
compare. Go to www.unionlabel.org and look at some of
the choices you already have.
When your union goes shopping—for office furniture
and equipment, staff automobiles, printing, paper,
union-branded gear, telecommunications services—
doesn’t it just make sense to demand the union label?
How about when you stock your cupboard for picnics
and parties. Does your union patronize unionized gro-
cers and merchants?
When we support union businesses, we support
union members and their families. It’s that simple.
The Union Label Department is developing this
Business-to-Union Directory to make it easier for
unions to find the products and services they need
from companies that are good union employers.

2 LABEL LETTER NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2009


For Now, Clean
Energy is
Foreign Made
The need for targeting programs to get the
best bang for the buck is clearly illustrated
in the area of clean energy initiatives. The
January 2009 stimulus bill included some $45
billion for energy efficiency and renewable
energy. According to a report commissioned
by the Sheet Metal Workers International
Association, the $10 billion of that money des-
ignated for repairing and modernizing govern-
ment buildings nationwide will generate little
more than 3,600 jobs for SMWIA members.
Another $27 billion is designated for “energy
incentives” for the private sector and renew-
able energy projects. While that provision
could generate substantial energy savings
and reductions in greenhouse emissions,
it isn’t likely to create many domestic jobs
because the products that enable green
energy—from solar panels to wind turbines,
from high tech batteries to biofuels—are
now manufactured outside of the U.S.
Contrast incentives in the U.S. with those in
other nations. Rhone Resch, head of the U.S.
Solar Industry Association notes that China
underwrites 80 percent of the cost of worker
training. In Malaysia green energy compa-
nies get a 10 to 20 year tax holiday.
Of course, one key difference is, unlike in the
U.S., those companies are not going to pick
up and leave Malaysia or China once they’ve
collected their incentives.
Label Letter
Union Label & Service Trades Dept., AFL-CIO
815 16th St. N.W. • Washington, D.C. 20006
www.unionlabel.org
www.shopunionmade.org
E-mail: ULSTD@unionlabel.org
Label Letter is published bimonthly by the Union Label &
Service Trades Department, AFL-CIO. Subscriptions to
members only. USPS #424-530. Periodicals postage
paid at Washington, D.C. Postmaster: Send correc-
tions of address to Room 209, 815 16th Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20006. Phone: 202-508-3700.
RICH KLINE JIM DUNN
President and Editor Secretary-Treasurer
Vice Presidents: Antonia Cortese, David B. Durkee, Gary Kloepfer,
Lindell Lee, Thomas F. Lee, Warren Mart, John J. Murphy,
Joe Nigro, Sean O’Ryan, Jeff Rechenbach, John P. Ryan,
Ed McHugh, James B. Wood, George Galis, Bill Taylor,
Jane Broendel, Don Caswell.
Vol. XXXIV, No. 6 ISSN 0161-9365
Hey, Dude: Where’s My Job? (cont’d.)
The union-backed Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) is continuing a series of Town Hall
meetings in selected cities to generate ideas about how infrastructure investment can be sparked and
manufacturing revived to rebuild a healthy U.S. economy.
Nevertheless, as the Innovation
Foundation report notes, the U.S. has
a long way to go to overcome years of
neglect and destruction in its manufac-
turing sector. “With no domestic manu-
facturers of high-speed rail technology,
the United States will rely on companies
in Japan or other foreign countries to
provide rolling stock for any planned
high-speed rail lines. And all three Asian
nations lead the United States in the
deployment of new nuclear power plants.
The United States relies on foreign-owned
companies to manufacture the majority
of its wind turbines, produces less than
10 percent of the world’s solar cells, and
is losing ground on hybrid and electric
vehicle technology and manufacturing.”
The report goes on to warn that,
should this gap persist, “the United
States risks importing the majority of the
clean energy technologies necessary to
meet growing domestic demand.”
The Alliance for American
Manufacturing (AAM), a joint labor-man-
agement effort spearheaded by the USW,
is focusing on re-establishing American
manufacturing capability with an eye
toward growth industries in the new
economy.
“Contrary to popular misconceptions,
the industrial age is not over,” AAM
declares on its website, adding: “From
nanotechnology to robotics, to lasers
and biotechnology, we are on the cusp
of incredible advances in manufacturing.
America must be the nation that leads the
world in the next stages of development.”
Infusing new life into the U.S. manu-
facturing sector starts with Congress and
the Obama administration drawing up a
national manufacturing policy, one that
includes enforcing trade laws, fostering
research and development, encouraging
public and private investment in manu-
facturing, and putting resources into
infrastructure—transportation systems,
education and energy—all elements that
will support a manufacturing base.
An AAM Town Hall meeting in Baltimore
in November drew some 1,000 participants
to talk about the issue. One panelist,
Economist Aris Melissaratos, an advisor
to both Democratic and Republican gov-
ernors in Maryland, pointed out that the
U.S. has neglected its infrastructure for
generations, but he added, it’s never too
late to get back on the right track. “When
we invest in infrastructure, the jobs will
quickly follow,” he said.
Adidas Takes
NBA Uniforms
to China
U
niforms for National Basketball
Association teams will soon be
made in China unless Sen. Chuck
Schumer (D-NY) can persuade the
league to force Adidas to change its
mind. Adidas has announced plans
to end its contract with American
Classic Outfitters of New York in
favor of a Chinese source. The switch
would cost about 100 U.S. jobs at the
New York company.
LABEL LETTER NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2009 3
 Elaine Chao Appointed
‘Consultant’ to
Chinese Industrial City
A
ccording to Chinascope, a web
magazine covering China’s
ind u s t r i a l a n d p o l i t i c a l
issues, Bush Labor Secretary
Elaine Chao has accepted an
appointment to become an official
consultant to the Chinese city of
Wuhan in Hubei Province. Wuhan is
the largest city in central China, a
center for trade, finance, informa-
tion and technology. The magazine
does not explain what Chao’s role
will be in consulting for the city.
Chao is married to Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Middle Class Economics:
UNION MADE
P
rof. Richard
A. Levins
wants to
spread the
word. “Better
wages, not more
borrowing, is the
fou n d a t i o n o f a
middle class econ-
omy” and “strong
unions are our best chance of getting
those wages.”
Levins, professor emeritus of
applied economics at the University of
Minnesota, has condensed these and
other compelling arguments into a brief
booklet that gets directly to the point.
“I want you to know that our economic
problems will not somehow magically
fix themselves. They can be fixed, but
only through the power of middle class
people working together toward the
right goals,” he says.
“Talk of globalization, free trade
and building a stronger economy with
cheap jobs and off-shore labor is just
what you think it is, a bunch of non-
sense,” Levins writes.
Read this little booklet to remind
yourself of how important union mem-
bership is. Not just to yourself, but to
your families, your neighbors and the
entire American middle class.
Copies of the booklet are avail-
able for $1 through Levins website:
www.middleclassunionmade.com.
4 LABEL LETTER NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2009
China-U.S. to Cooperate
on Electric Car R&D
T
he U.S. and China will cooperate in the development of new electric automo-
biles under the terms of an agreement initialed by President Obama during
his November trip to China. The agreement refers to a “strong shared inter-
est in accelerating the deployment of electric vehicles” to reduce oil depen-
dence, cut greenhouse gas emissions and promote economic growth.
“This arrangement warrants close scrutiny by the labor movement to make sure
we’re not giving away technology that might cede the next generation of autos to
Chinese manufacturers,” commented UL&STD President Rich Kline.
The agreement says the U.S. and China will work on:
• Joint standards development for product and testing for electric vehicles—with
common design standards for plugs, and common test protocols for batteries
and other devices. The objective is to make information mutually available and
work toward common standards to help facilitate rapid deployment of electric
vehicles in both nations.
• Joint demonstrations linking a dozen cities with electric vehicle demonstration
programs. Paired U.S. and Chinese cities will share data on charging patterns,
driving experiences, grid integration, consumer preferences and other topics
to help facilitate introduction of the technology.
• Joint technical roadmap to identify R&D needs as well as issues related to the
manufacture, introduction and use of electric vehicles. The roadmap will be
made available to the global automotive industry, updated regularly to reflect
advances in technology and evolution of the marketplace.
• Public awareness and engagement. The U.S. and China will disseminate mate-
rials to improve public understanding of electric vehicle technologies. The U.S.
and China will sponsor an annual Electric Vehicles Forum, alternating between
the two countries to bring key stakeholders together to share information on
best practices and identify new areas for collaboration.
Somebody’s Listening
F
ollowing up on complaints by America products for conferences,”
members of the Labor Department wrote AnneMarie Fasulo of the Job
fi eld employees union, an AFGE Corps office.
affiliate, the management staff Early this year, AFGE’s National
at the Philadelphia Job Corps offi ce Council of Field Labor Locals col-
reports that they will be shopping lected Chinese-made bags distributed
union for promotional items to be by DOL at a women’s conference, pins
given out at future conferences. “I am and other paraphernalia to illustrate
happy to report that the management widespread management insensitiv-
staff in the Philadelphia Job Corps ity to union-made-in-the-USA products
Office have pledged to find made-in- and services.
DeWitt Walton, Steelworker, Educator,
and the A. Philip Randolph Institute
How a 19-year veteran of the mills in East Chicago, Indiana is making a differ-
ence for the community. (Excerpted from the ILCA’s Pittsburgh Media Project.)
I n Pittsburgh, the Steel Workers’
DeWitt Walton isn’t shy about push-
ing individuals, people in power and
even fellow trade unionists outside
their comfort zone.
“You have to be willing to take some
risks,” Walton says. “We’re not always
going to be successful. Sometimes we’ll
fail. But you can’t be afraid of failure,
because if you’re afraid to fail, you’re
afraid to achieve.”
The latest initiative Walton hopes to
Back On Track A-Z
T he Delaware State AFL-
CIO Community Services
Department recently launched
“Back on Track A-Z,” a com-
munity resource center to connect
underemployed and unemployed area
residents with job hunting tools they
may not have on their own.
The loss of three major union
employers in Delaware—the General
Motors plant, the Chrysler plant and
the Delaware City Refinery’s Valero
Branch—have had a devastating effect
on the area’s middle class. The closures
not only put union members out of
work, but also taxed the overburdened
community resources in the area.
“Many of the workers who were
displaced haven’t been in the job
market for 10 to 15 years,” said
Delaware AFL-CIO Community
Services Assistant Director Debbie
Armstrong. “They don’t know how to
effectively use the job search tools
that are around today. They haven’t
needed to use them.”
The center also provides referrals
to the local emergency food pantry,
which, says Armstrong, has seen a
dramatic increase in need.
Armstrong says that many of the
users coming into the center have
jobs, but are underemployed and can’t
make ends meet. She also notes that
many of the users aren’t displaced
union workers, which was a surprise,
but the center is available to all under-
add to the achievements list is “green
jobs” training for two dozen adults at the
Bedford Hope Center in the Hill District.
Ongoing collaboration between the
Housing Authority and the A. Philip
Randolph Institute tries to change real-
ity, at least for some people, Walton
says. “It’s an incredible opportunity to
empower the disadvantaged and those
who don’t have a voice, to build power,
and to give opportunities to those who
lack opportunities.”
Left to right: Sam Lathem, Delaware State AFL-
CIO President, New Castle County Councilman
David Tackett, Rich Fante, U.S. President of
AstraZeneca, Michelle Taylor, President & Chief
Executive Officer of United Way of Delaware,
and Delaware State Senator Bethany Hall-Long
at the opening of Back on Track A-Z.
employed or unemployed Delawareans,
regardless of profession.
Back on Track provides unlimited
internet access for job searches, peer-
to-peer counseling, and weekly sched-
uled classes on financial stability,
résumé development, skills assessment
and job search/interviewing skills.
AFL-CIO Community Services, United
Way of Delaware and AstraZeneca
collaborated to create the cen-
ter, which is housed the AFL-CIO’s
Community Services Building in Newark.
AstraZeneca provided $5,000 to pur-
chase the computer equipment to set
up the center with the help of Rich
Fante, President of AstraZeneca U.S.
Operations. The United Way and the
AFL-CIO’s Community Services Dept.
provide staff. Other local nonprofits also
participate in the seminars and classes.
For more information about Back
on Track A-Z, call (302) 456-3500.
PUT A UNION
LABEL ON IT
ILCA, IBEW Local 5,
Building Trades and
Helmets to Hardhats
Excerpts from another product of
the ILCA Media Project.
The International Labor Com-
munications Association recently fea-
tured an article spotlighting a Helmets
to Hardhats success story that bears
repeating.
See: http://ilcaonline.org/content/trad-
ing-helmut-hardhat
The article follows IBEW apprentice
Phil Trexler, now a first-year appren-
tice with the IBEW in Pittsburgh in his
sojourn from 23 years in the military on
his way to a new career as a union elec-
trician.
“When I was younger, you’d hear
about unions,” says Trexler. “Unions have
always been around in the Pittsburgh
area. When you grow up in Pittsburgh
you know what it’s all about.”
Once, he associated unions with high-
er wages. Now that he’s older, he sees
there’s more to it than that.
“Having that pension for you down the
road is a huge thing,” he says.
The story is one of several gener-
ated during the ILCA Pittsburgh Media
Project that coincided with the AFL-CIO
Convention.
LABEL LETTER NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2009 5
 What Happens in China Affects New York (cont’d.)
more than 36 percent of China’s gross
domestic product. Compare that to the U.S.
where exports total 13 percent of GDP.
By concentrating on big manufacturing
advantages in such industries as telecom-
munications, steel, automobile parts and
automobiles, China has come to dominate
global sales for those products. China’s
exports in these industries swamp the
domestic output capacity of other nations,
enabling China to aggressively underprice
those goods on the global market.
China Exports Unemployment
“Essentially, China exports unem-
ployment to countries unable or
unwilling to compete on the basis of sub-
sidies provided to favored industries,”
the Commission report asserted.
There are several other disturb-
ing facts laid bare in the report. For
instance, China controls 93 percent of
the world market for rare earth miner-
als—critical elements in the production
of silicone chips, flat screen televisions,
cell phones and batteries for all high
technology and green applications.
China exercises tight control over the
exportation of these minerals.
Buy Chinese Vs.
Buy American
Although China was one of the lead-
ing voices condemning efforts to include
a Buy American provision in the 2009
stimulus package, the Chinese central
government maintains a comprehensive
“Buy Chinese” policy of its own to keep
its stimulus money at home. The policy
restricts government procurement at
every level to the use of only Chinese
products of services.
China has long exercised a prefer-
ence for its own domestic content
on products. In the area of telecom-
munications, all manufacturers are
required to buy components and
equipment from domestic sources.
Similarly, its clean energy sector is
required to verify that at least 80
percent of its equipment comes from
China. That requirement has enabled
China to build the world’s largest
solar panel manufacturing industry,
exporting more than 95 percent of its
output to the U.S. and Europe.
In autos and automobile parts manu-
facturing China has become the world’s
largest producer by excluding foreign
competition in its domestic market. In
response to a complaint filed jointly
by the U.S., Canada and the European
Union, China announced it would reduce
its steep tax on imported auto parts on
August 28, 2009, at about the same
time that the U.S. auto industry was
planning its own funeral.

AFL-CIO NATIONAL BOYCOTTS

TRANSPORTATION & TRAVEL OTHERS

PACIFIC BEACH HOTEL (HTH) VINCENT BACH DIVISION
Luxury Hotel, Waikiki, Hawaii CONN SELMER, INC.
Elkhart, Indiana Musical Instruments: Trumpets,
➤ International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) Trombones, Saxophones
➤ United Automobile Workers (UAW)

ENTERTAINMENT
& RECREATION R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO CO.
Cigarettes: BestValue, Camel, Century, Doral, Eclipse,
ECHOSTAR DISHNETWORK Satellite Television Magna, Monarch, More, Now, Salem, Sterling, Vantage,
Service and Winston; plus all Moonlight Tobacco products
➤ Communications Workers of America ➤ Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain
Millers International Union
BLUEMAN PRODUCTIONS
➤ International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes
(IATSE)

6 LABEL LETTER NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2009

Walk In My Shoes
Trade Act
BY TIM SUGRUE, 31-Year Professional Fire Fighter in Montgomery
Reintroduced
R
ep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), along
County, MD; District Rep., IAFF Local 1664 with six co-sponsors, has re-
ix a.m. relieving the previous introduced the TRADE Act in the

S 24-hour shift. First order

of business: check out the
equipment: lights, sirens,
tires, fuel. We’re in a semi rural
suburban area, so a busy day for us
Senate, a bill which would require
the U.S. to renegotiate NAFTA and a long
list of related trade agreements.
“We want trade and plenty of it, but
we want trade under new rules,” Brown
said as he introduced the measure.
might be 10 calls. In denser areas Brown’s bill would require the
with shopping malls and office Government Accountability Office (GAO)
buildings a station could average to evaluate the impact of NAFTA and
20 calls a day. We don’t just fight other trade deals on U.S. jobs, wages
and business investment and for the
fires; car accidents, heart attacks,
White House to issue a plan to Congress
household accidents, hazardous
for renegotiating those pacts.
materials spills, and the occasional A companion bill in the House of
cat in a tree keep us on our toes. Representatives has 127 co-sponsors.
Everybody thinks we play checkers
all day long, but that’s not how it
is. In the morning, we’ll do physi-
cal training. If we’ve got a rookie
on the shift, we might spend some
San Francisco Hotel
time going over personal safety Workers Launch
equipment, or train on a new vehi-
cle. We’ve always got housework Rolling Strikes

H
to do, routine maintenance on the toys for needy families. We have an otel workers in San Francisco
firehouse. When we have down- annual golf tournament to raise money are conducting a series of rolling
time, we do safety education at for the Washington Hospital Center’s three-day strikes at 28 upscale
hotels in that city in a campaign
elementary schools, or visit senior burn unit and we help the IAFF at the
to win a new contract. Members of the
centers to talk about fire safety for George Meany Center with their annual Westin St. Francis walked off the job
the elderly. Our community service camp for kids who are burn victims the week before Thanksgiving. Other
doesn’t end when our shift ends, from around the country, give them a units are threatening to do the same
especially around the holidays. tour of D.C.; and, of course, we “fill in the weeks ahead. Workers at all 28
of the hotels involved have pledged to
Our local has a Thanksgiving food the boot” for Jerry’s kids every year on
strike if called on to do so.
drive, we participate in Toys for Labor Day weekend. Not much time for “There has never been a question of
Tots. Each station also donates checkers. whether they can afford what’s on the
table,” said Mike Casey, president of
Local 2. “The question is whether these
companies will make a business deci-
What’s Your Story? sion that’s in the best interest of work-
ers, the city and the hotels themselves.
In 150 words or less—accompanied by a picture of you at work…Help us walk in
UniteHere Local 2 is attempting to
your shoes. We’re open to all union members, active, retired, laid off.
negotiate with the city’s hotel man-
“We want rank and file members to help us to illustrate the rich, diverse tapestry
agement association for contracts to
of hard working men and women who make up the American labor movement. They
cover restaurant, housekeeping per-
are proud of their work and proud of the contributions they make to their communi-
sonnel, bellmen and others at some of
ties,” explains Union Label Department President Richard Kline.
the highest profile properties in San
The pictures and stories we get will be published in the Label Letter and posted on
Francisco, including the Grand Hyatt,
the Department’s website—and perhaps in posters and other promotional materials.
the Palace, W, and St. Regis Hotels.
E-mail a Walk in Your Shoes to: info@unionlabel.org; or send by regular mail to:
For a complete list of union hotels
Walk In My Shoes, c/o Union Label & Service Trades Dept. (AFL-CIO), 815 16th St.
in U.S. cities, go to the UniteHere web-
NW, Washington, DC 20006
site: www.unitehere.org

LABEL LETTER NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2009 7

 PERIODICALS
POSTAGE PAID
WASHINGTON, D.C.
TIME VALUE
EndNotes We need to keep up this momentum
with ideas and information submit-
ted by readers. If you’re working in a
union operation and you don’t see your
employer listed in the database, by all
By Rich Kline, President, UL&STD means, click on the button “add a union
product or service,” fill out the form and
C
losing out a send it on to us. It’s virtually automatic,
busy first year takes just a few minutes and it will help
and plan- us muscle up our database.
ning for the One area where our current database
next, the Union Label is severely lacking is in the service sector,
Department is call- where literally thousands of union com-
ing on readers to join panies—painters, plumbers, electricians,
our efforts to help sheet metal contractors, heating and air
modernize and focus conditioning companies—are practically
the Department’s invisible to union buyers because they’re
programs. not taking advantage of this service.
We’ve been encouraged to see a sig- We invite our other affiliates—espe-
nificant uptick in traffic on our website, and cially firefighters and EMTs, teachers and
excited by the response to our Union Label government workers at the federal state,
Facebook page. Our periodic Label Flashes, local and city level—to add your organiza-
e-mailed to friends who have signed up on tions to the Union Label database as well.
the website, enjoy fairly wide distribution. We believe it would be helpful for your
The response to our regular newsletter fea- brothers and sisters to know, for example,
tures—Walk in My Shoes and Put a Union that the workers at the zoo they visit on
Label On It have been well received. Expect vacation, or the teachers at school system
to see them on a regular basis. their children attend are union members.
Season’s Greetings
Happy Holidays to all our readers and all the union families of the USA.
Thanks for all you do year round.
In This Issue…
What Happens in China
Affects New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Do Buy: Previewing UL&STD
Business-to-Union Listings . . . . . . 2
For Now, Clean Energy
is Foreign Made. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
China-U.S. to Cooperate
on R&D for Electric Cars . . . . . . . . 4
Put a Union Label On It . . . . . . . . . 5
Don’t Buy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
A Firefighter’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Downloadable versions of Label Letter are
posted on our website: www.unionlabel.org
Permission to reprint is hereby granted, but
credit to source will be appreciated.
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Business-to-Union Directory
Look at page two of this edition for a
brief description of our new Business-
to-Union website feature. Operating on
the theory that all good works begin
at home, we’re setting up an easy link
between motivated union buyers and
good union companies (with valid union
contracts) that want unions as custom-
ers. That way, if a local union or an
international is buying office furniture,
or telecommunications services, pro-
motional items, sign painting, food for
a picnic, printing, or the entire range of
goods and services that an organization
needs, they can easily check the data-
base for union vendors.
◾ ◾ ◾
Welcome to our newly-elected
Executive Board members—Bill Taylor
of the Firefighters, George Galis of
the Painters, Jane Broendel of the
Letter Carriers and Don Caswell of the
Boilermakers. They were elected, along
with the incumbent board members, at
our September UL&STD Convention.