and Labor Day

 

it's silly but that's what I think of first with Labor Day - Homestar Runner and his silly song.

It's funny, when I was a kid, Labor Day was never a big day. Part of it may have been my family wasn't exactly a union family - my dad was an academic and wasn't in one (though I think when he worked in a foundry when he was in college, he might have been).

 It was also never really explained in school like, for example, Veteran's Day was. It might be the town where I grew up (which would have been far more "management" than "labor"), or it might have been that Labor Day doesn't have a clear historical hook like "we are remembering the end of World War I, when the Armistice was signed" or "we go and decorate soldier's graves to remember their sacrifice" (for Memorial Day, which also used to sometimes be called Decoration Day). 

But something that popped into my mind this morning when people on Bluesky were talking about trade unions - when I was a kid, some of my clothes (I especially remember Lee jeans had it) had an extra tag in them indicating they were made using union labor.

 I think it was this union, in fact:

I remember seeing either that ad, or the slightly later one that was very like it (using the same song).

And I got to wondering: "huh, I haven't seen that in YEARS"

As it turns out, none of the "big three" (Levi's, Lee, or Wrangler) still makes jeans in the US. Or at least not the kind an ordinary person could afford. (I think Wrangler, which ironically was the brand I got horrible teasing from the stuck up kids at school for wearing, was the last to move production overseas). 

There's actually not much clothing made in the US any more! And certainly not jeans that would be affordable for fieldwork (there are some very high end "fancy denim" ones, but the ones I saw were aimed at men, and if I got men's jeans to fit my hips, they'd be way too big in the waist and too long).

There's relatively little woman's clothing on the "we're a union shop" websites I checked, and it was mostly t-shirts and hoodies. (I do know M Mac is made in the US, so even if they're not union, at least there are SOME worker protections (still)). And Thunderpants, which I have quite a number of, are made in the Pacific Northwest, and they boast of trying to pay a good wage...

But not much IS made here any more, and it would be a challenge to put together even a small wardrobe of US made stuff. (And despite all the talk of "tariffs to bring manufacturing back," I rather doubt that will happen). 

But maybe I'm the last generation that will remember "having looked for the union label" in their clothes - even if I didn't understand its significance then