“Black Friday” originally referred to the financial crisis of 1869 when a stock market catastrophe set off by gold speculators caused the market to collapse and stocks to plummet. It came to its current meaning as a major shopping day in the early 1960s, when Philadelphia police griped about the congested streets clogged with motorists and pedestrians heading to the Army-Navy football game and looking for deals post-Thanksgiving. The term also refers to stores moving from the “red” to the “black,” back when accounting records were kept by hand, and red ink indicated a loss, and black a profit.

So there are a lot of good historic and ideological reasons for labor folks to avoid shopping today. That said, for those of you who are so inclined, here are some places your purchases will support labor businesses and their workers, and let’s face it, they do have some really cool stuff.

LHF’s 2024 Great Labor Arts Exchange will once again be held in conjunction with the Labor Notes bi-annual conference (scheduled for April 19-21 in Chicago, details/register here); check out the Labor Notes online store for books – including Secrets of a Successful Organizer -- clothes – like the Troublemakers Union t-shirt -- and more.

From calendars to posters, t-shirts, buttons, mugs and more, Syracuse Cultural Workers has a wide selection of issue-themed items, including “Unions Kicking Ass for the Working class” t-shirts, buttons and postcards.   



Hard Ball Press is offering holiday savings through Christmas; enjoy big discounts on all nine books from Tim Sheard’s acclaimed Shop Steward Detective series and other titles, plus, buy any three titles and Hard Ball will donate two books to a union campaign.

This year's theme for the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association’s Labor History Wall Calendar is "Resilience", focusing on the compelling narrative of regional labor history and the remarkable organizing efforts and strikes from 2021 to 2023. You don’t have to live in that region to appreciate how these contemporary trends connect with the rich tapestry of labor history in the Pacific Northwest.

The artwork of Minneapolis-based artist and organizer Ricardo Morales is well-known throughout the American labor movement; his woodcut poster of Woody Guthrie’s “I hate a song that makes you think you are not any good” quote is a classic. In addition to posters, cards, t-shirts and more, Ricardo designs and produces custom buttons.

“I made this album not because I felt we should sing these songs but because I became convinced that we need a renewed singing tradition,” says Chris David Westover-Muñoz, conductor and creator of Starvation Army: Band Music No. 1, a new CD featuring never-before-recorded songs from the Industrial Workers of the World, as they would have been sung on the street during the union’s heyday, performed by the Brass Band of Columbus, Ohio and Sing in Solidarity, the choir of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. “In this story and these songs, I find hope and inspiration–hope that we might learn to sing together again, and through singing together that we might remember that there is indeed power in our union.” Read more here.

Starvation Army comes from PM Press, which has a lot of terrific labor-related books, including What Do We Need Bosses For? and Class, Race, and Gender: Challenging the Injuries and Divisions of Capitalism and is currently offering 50% off all titles.

Got more union art businesses? Let us know at info@laborheritage.org

photo: The blackboard in the New York Gold Room, September 24, 1869, showing the collapse of the price of gold. Handwritten caption by James A. Garfield indicates it was used as evidence before the Committee of Banking & Currency during hearings in 1870

Woodland Pulp strike: on November 20, members from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Local 1490 (District 4), along with 20 Millwrights and 38 oilers and steam and water plant operators from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 330-3 and Millwrights Local 1121 at Woodland Pulp, a northern Maine wood pulp facility, have overwhelmingly rejected the revised offer from Woodland Pulp and will persist in their ongoing strike that began on Saturday, Oct. 14. Read more in the IAM News.

"The worker must have bread,

but she must have roses, too."

Please CLICK HERE NOW to pledge your financial support to our 2023 program, which this year includes our annual Solidarity Forever Award, the Great Labor Arts Exchange, the DC Labor FilmFest and much more (check out our website for details!).

Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.