Today's Labor Day parade was a rainbow of T-shirts, each union sporting its characteristic colors. But how many of those are made in America by union members?
That's where Belinda Lader sees her niche. Lader, who was hawking her wares at the Labor Day post-parade party at Penns Landing, works for Geiger Bros., a Maine-based distributor of promotional products, from T-shirts to coffee mugs. Lader, of Lafayette Hill, combs through the company's catalog to find the products that are both union-made and made in America. "I do a lot of research," she said.
It can get really complicated.
"When I work with Unite Here (the garment workers' union), my work gets even harder, because you have to make sure the manufacturer employs the Unite Here union and those manufacturers are few and far between," she said.
One thing obvious from watching the parade is that unions use a lot of T-shirts. So there's definitely a market for Lader's products. But are unions willing to pass up cheaper imports and pay extra for shirts made by their brethren? Lader hopes so. ""The problem is that unions need to come together and buy USA-made items."
