Look For the Union Label TV Commercial | Television

Look For The Union Label

This commercial for ILGWU (The International Ladies Garment Workers Union) ran in various forms throughout my childhood.

Real union workers were used in these commercials. 

The 1978 version:

 

Here is the 1981 version.

 

This was when some clothes were still made in the U.S.A, although that was starting to change. 

 It was reasonably easy to get a job back then . . . not like now.

These commercials were really famous back in the 1970s and the early 1980s. 

Remember, with only 3 networks plus PBS, television advertising was very powerful. 

As a matter of fact, there were quite a few parodies of this song.

I didn’t pay much attention to them back then, although I would sing the song as the commercial played, but they really touch my heart now.

 You can find the history of ILGWU and the lyrics for this song here:

International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union

You may also read about the labor movement in New Jersey:

American Labor Museum and the Pietro and Maria Botto House | Haledon, New Jersey 

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