Bob Schwartz

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.!

I am here because of a union, particularly the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.

My Grandpa was an ILGWU furrier in New York. It allowed my Grandpa and Grandma to raise a family, including my mother. That’s my proud heritage.

Here is an ILGWU parade float:

Here is the wife of the then governor of New York, Republican Nelson Rockefeller, sewing an ILGWU label into a garment:

Here is an ad from 1978:

Unions like the ILGWU are not the vestige of a bygone era or contributor to a too “woke” ethos that stands in the way of a great America. They are the once and future foundation of broad American prosperity and fairness—if we will let them be and grow rather than demonizing and discouraging them.

That’s what Labor Day is about. Sing along.