Every trade.And who checked.
The shops we place work with, and exactly what we checked. Every entry records what the business holds — a contract, a council standing, a local's bug, a membership, or a sourcing commitment — along with who verified it and the date they did. We vet these shops ourselves because we send them work; the register is what that vetting looks like written down. It issues no label of its own and confers no standing on anyone.
What works today
Our own vetted networkThe shops we place work with, checked by us because we send them the workNot yet
The registerOne record set, every trade. Free to be listed and free to readNot yet
Printing tradesThe first vertical, at unionprintingtrades.com — where the standard gets provenNot yet
The vetting standardPublished and versioned, so an entry can be argued with instead of taken on faithNot yet
Supporter listingsBusinesses that source union-made or employ union labor — a separate tier, never dressed as a union shopNot yet
Shop membershipPaid, annual, optional. Buys placement and first call on routed work — never a verification, a tier, or a word of the listingNot yet
Co-op listingsServing cooperatives is a category of its own. Serving is not being, and the register says whichNot yet
Further tradesEach trade gets its own face reading from this one register. Printing first, on its own meritsNot yet
What this is today
A qualified vendor list, kept properly. Every buyer who places real work keeps one; most keep it in somebody’s head or a spreadsheet nobody else can read. This one records the basis and the date, so it survives being read by anyone.
We vet the shops we useWe send them work, so we check them ourselves. That is not a credential we are issuing — it is diligence we would do anyway, written down instead of rememberedNow
Built to survive being readKept honestly in private, so publishing it costs nothing extra. A record that would embarrass you in public was never good enough in private eitherNow
Open to shops beyond oursIf shops outside our network want to be listed and checked the same way, the register already holds them. It is not built yet and it is not promisedLater
A resource other locals can useIf it proves useful past our own work, that is when it is worth asking what it should cost. Not beforeLater
Two different facts, never one badge
Being a union shop and supporting union work are both worth recording and they are not the same thing. Most directories flatten them into a single logo, and that is precisely how a badge stops meaning anything. Here they are separate tiers with separate wording, and no entry is ever styled to borrow the other’s weight.
Union & alliedThe business itself holds it — a signatory contract, council standing, or a local’s bug. Named, with the paper on fileHolds
Member-ownedThe owner is a dues-paid member. No shop contract. Stated exactly that way and not rounded upHolds
Supporter — sources union-madeBuys union-printed, union-built or union-assembled work. A real commitment, and a commitment is not a credentialSupports
Supporter — employs union laborUnion labor on the payroll or under contract, without the business itself being a signatory shopSupports
CooperativeA co-op, recorded as one. Serving cooperatives and being one are different facts and the register keeps them apartStructure
LapsedChecked once, never refreshed. Ages in public on its own rather than sitting there looking trueStale
One register, a face per trade
A printer looks for printers. The register underneath is one record set; each trade gets its own front door reading from it. Printing goes first because that is the trade this was built by someone who works in.
Union Printing Tradesunionprintingtrades.com — the printing face. Allied bugs, local bugs, signatory shops, brokersFirst
Further tradesEach proven the same way, or not added. A register that grows faster than it can verify is a listLater
What “verified” means here
A basis, or it does not go upContract, council standing, a local’s bug, membership, or a sourcing commitment. Five different things a single badge normally hides. The register names which oneRule
Verified is a person and a dateSomeone who works in the trade reviewed it. Their name and the date are on the record. A verification with nobody behind it is a graphicRule
Attested is a real answerThe business told us and the paper is not filed. That entry stays up, labelled honestly, rather than being deleted or promotedRule
Entries ageContracts lapse and standing gets pulled. An unrefreshed entry degrades in public on its own — nobody has to rememberRule
Verification is never for saleListing and verification are free and always will be. A paid member and a free listing get the same checks, the same tier and the same wording — money buys visibility, never statusRule
The standard is publishedVersioned, in the open, with a changelog. You can argue with it. A standard nobody can inspect is an opinion with a logoRule
What this is not
It issues no bugUnion labels belong to the bodies that own them and are licensed to those who earn them. This records who holds which. It grants nothing and can take nothing awayNot us
It takes no sideWhere organizations disagree, the register records what each body states, attributed. A neutral record is more use to a buyer than either side’s own listNot us
It speaks for no oneNo affiliation with or endorsement by any International, council or local is claimed. A business’s standing is stated as that business’s, and no furtherNot us
It is not a co-opThe register serves cooperatives. It is not one, does not trade as one, and does not describe itself as oneNot us
Back of house
Back of houseVerifiers and listed businesses. Members only.
Use your key
The rest of the works
Union Printing TradesThe printing face of this registerUnion Made ServicesThe shop that sends the workPrint Shop LinkThe shop network — where a vetted entry gets workUnion.inkUnion labor, on contractUnion Made SystemsThe rails it all runs onUnion DeliveryThe delivery railKai BuskirkTechnology developer — the origin doorStudio XThe studio — cloud, web & AI since 1988CadreThe cadre gateway