Allied Printing Trades Council
Amalgamated Engineering Union (Australia)
American Brotherhood of Cement Workers
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations
American Federation of Musicians
American Train Dispatchers Association
Anchor Union
Argentine Workers' Central Union
Art Directors Guild
Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
Australian Maritime Officers Union
Authentic Labor Front
Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union
Bangladesh Jatiya Sramik League
Barbados Workers' Union
Basque Workers' Solidarity
Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators of America
Brotherhood of Railway Carmen
Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions
Chicago Federation of Labor
Chicago Teachers Union
Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond
Coalition of Labor Union Women
CODE-CWA
Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela
Confederación Intersindical Galega
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (Hercules and the Nemean Lion)
Confederación Unitaria de Trabajadores de Honduras
Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia
Confederation of Labour (All-Russian)
Confederation of Mexican Workers
Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions
Confederation of New Trade Unions of Slovenia "Independence"
Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey
Confederation of Workers of the Republic of Panama
Confederation of Yugoslav Trade Unions
Confédération des syndicats nationaux
Congress of South African Trade Unions
Craft Brewery Workers’ Alliance of Canada
Custom Tailors Union Label
Danish Union of Teachers
Democratic Confederation of Labour (Morocco)
Democratic Labour Federation of Cyprus
Designgewerkschaft
Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund
European Trade Union Confederation: ETUC
Farm Labor Organizing Committee
Federation of Free Workers
Federation of Korean Trade Unions
Federation of Trade Unions (All-China)
Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine
Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia
Free Workers' Union
Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund
French Confederation of Management – General Confederation of Executives
Föderation gewerkschaftlicher Kollektivbetriebe
Gefangenengewerkschaft / Bundesweite Organisation
General Confederation of Labour (France)
General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions
General Federation of Trade Unions (Syria)
General Union of Algerian Workers
General Union of Workers (Portugal)
Gewerkschaft Bau-Holz
Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer
Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer (Egotronic Bootleg)
Gewerkschaft Handel, Banken und Versicherungen
Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (TUC)
Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International Union
Gründungsgewerkschaften der Ver.di (Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft)
Guild of Italian American Actors
Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation
Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions
Icelandic Confederation of Labour (Alþýðusamband Íslands)
IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt
IG Druck und Papier – Die Geschichte des Signets
Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
Industriegewerkschaft Metall (IG Metall, IGM)
International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers
International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
International Labour Organization
International Longshore and Warehouse Union
International Plate Printers, Die Stampers and Engravers Union of North America
International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America
International Typographical Union
International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
International Union of Elevator Constructors
International Union of Operating Engineers
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
International Union of Sex Workers
Iranian Workers' Solidarity Network
Irish Trades Union Congress
Irish Transport and General Workers' Union
Italian Labour Union
Italian Syndicalist Union
Justice for App Workers
Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement – Philippines)
Kuwait Trade Union Federation
Laborers’ Local One
Lithuanian Trade Union – Solidarity
Macau Federation of Trade Unions
Maitelan
Marca Cooperativa Agrícola y Lechera de La Unión COLUN, 1961
Marine Workers Industrial Union 510
Maritime Union of New Zealand
National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union
National Organization of Trade Unions
National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers
National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees in Niger
National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain)
National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers
National Union of Seamen, Ports and Allied Workers in Ghana
National Women's Trade Union League Emblem
New Museum Union
Nigeria Labour Congress & Trade Union Congress
North American Miners Association
Norway–Soviet Union relations
Norwegian Transport Workers’ Union
Norwegian Union of Food, Beverage and Allied Workers
Norwegian Union of General Workers
Nuclear Energy and Industry Workers' Union of Ukraine
Office & Professional Employees International Union
Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union
Operative Plasterers and Allied Trades Society of Ireland
Pakistan Trade Union Federation
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions
Philadelphia Museum of Art Union
Polish Alliance of Trade Unions
Polish Syndicalists' Union
Printed Matter Union Logo
Proud Union Home
Puerto Rico Teachers Federation
Revolutionäre Gewerkschafts Opposition
San Marino Confederation of Labour
Seafarers' International Union of Canada
Sello Unión de Carteros de Valparaíso, 1917
Sheet Metal Workers' International Association
Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Prensa
Sindicatos Libres
Socialist Trade Union Centre
Solidarity Union
Solidarność – Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity"
Standing Committee Of Trade Unions Of The Graphic Industry
Starbucks Workers United
Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions
Tamilnadu Textile and Common Labour Union TTCU
Tartine Union
Teachers' and Educational Workers' Union
The American Newspaper Guild
The Chicago Organized Workers League, the very first super hero labor union.
The Danish Nurses Organization
The Great Seal of the Knights of Labor.
The New Childrens’s Museum Union
The Rail, Tram, and Bus Union
The Workers’ House (Iran)
Toronto Harm Reduction Workers Union
Trade Union Centre of Workers of Rwanda
Trade Union Congress of the Philippines
Trade Union Workers' Initiative (All-Poland)
Trade Unions in the AFCFTA
Trade Unions International Of Agricultural. Forestry And Plantation Workers (Agriculture Tui)
Trade Unions International Of Chemical, Oil And Allied Workers (Chemical Tui)
Trade Unions International Of Mining And Energy Workers (Mining And Energy Tui)
Trade Unions International Of Public And Allied Employees (Public Employees Tui)
Trade Unions International Of Transport Workers(Transport Tui)
Trade Unions International Of Workers in Commerce (Commerce TUI))
Trade Unions International Of Workers In The Food, Tobacco, Hotel And Allied Industries (Food Tui)
Trade Unions International Of Workers In The Textile, Leather And Fur Industry (Textile Tui)
Trade Unions International Of Workers In Tk C. Metal Industry (Metal Tui)
Trade Unions International Of Workers Of The Building, Wood And Building Material Industries (Building Tui)
Tunisian General Labour Union
Union Label Department, AFL–CIO
Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians
Union of Salaried Employees
Union syndicale Solidaires
United Auto Workers
United Farm Workers
United Firefighter's Union of Australia
United Hatters of North America
United Mine Workers of America
United Trade Unions of Serbia “Sloga”
University Teacher's Union Tokyo
Unió Sindical d'Andorra
Utility Workers Union of America
ver.di – Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft
Verband der Deutschen Buchdrucker
Verkehrsgewerkschaft GDBA (Gewerkschaft Deutscher Bundesbahnbeamten und Anwärter)
World Federation of Teachers' Unions (FISE)
World Federation of Trade Unions
Writers Guild of America
Zimbabwe Graphical Workers Union
If I had a Hammer…
I cannot sing a song, since I am only the author of this colophon. But I have them all in mind, of the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World) Red Little Songbook, they accompany me as I flip through this collection of union logos. This book does not describe things in words, nor does it call for organised labor action. And yet it manages to tell us a story, of the never-ending struggle of workers all over the world, through sparing silence, letting the images convey the message.
This object is – as any human-made good – a product of labor. But, as is often the case in (post)industrial production environments, this work is not the result of a single individual’s efforts but of collective action.
And so this book is a collection of work:
On the one hand, it brings together the logos of 200 trade unions that fighting for workers in a wide variety of sectors internationally and over the decades and centuries.
This labor therefore includes the more than 150 designers of the various emblems who, often unknown, have made the struggle possible in the first place.
But even more humanpower was required to make this print product available to readers: This book wasn’t built by me, the writer of this colophon, but by my friend, Jan Vincent Dufke, graphic designer and member of the United Services Union ver.di, who put together the collection and designed this book.
My solidarity therefore goes to Adam Hyde, julientaq, Fred Chasen, and Gijs de Heij, who, with the development of paged.js, created an open-code tool that enabled the author of this book to defy the obscene capitalist exploitation of Adobe Incorporated and to resist the privatization of design tools with the means of the free web.
The work that went into this book also includes the production of the paper, the printing, and the manufacture of the necessary machines and resources. Union logos from all of these trades can be found in this collection.
… I’d hammer in the morning.
I alone have neither a hammer nor the skills required to accomplish the production of such a publication.
Yet this book showed me, that I am, in fact, not alone, and that my contribution to this project is just enough. Or, as the American Miners’ Association (which verged into the United Mine Workers of America [page 380/381]) states in their constitution:
Step by Step, the longest march
Can be won, can be won ;
Single stones will form an arch,
One by one, one by one,
And by union, what we will
Can be all accomplished still.
Drops of water turn a mill
Singly none, singly none.
In solidarity,
a friend