The lists are out, and the race is on to buy school supplies for the 2022-23 school year.
Despite inflation, families of K-12 students plan to spend an average of $864 on school supplies and college students expect to shell out $1,199, according to the National Retail Federation.
By taking advantage of union-made supplies, you can support fellow working families across the country.
The AFL-CIO compiled its yearly list of union-made supplies for 2022:
Paper Products
Boise Paper: Products: Boise X-9, Business Choice, FasCopy, Flagship, Grand and Toy, Office Depot, USA Xerographics, W.B. Mason and Xerographics (United Steelworkers Local 159).
International Paper: full list of products (USW).
Mead Westvaco/Acco Brands: At-A-Glance, Day Timer planners and organizers, Five Star school supplies and organizational gear, lined paper, Mead school supplies and Really Big Coloring Books (Communications Workers of America, USW).
Pacon: Products: Art1st drawing/sketch Pads, Array card stock and bond paper, Art Street construction paper, Bordette Decorative Border, Classroom Keepers storage, Colorwave tagboard, Corobuff 3D decorative backgrounds, Decorol Art Roll paper, Ecology recycled paper, Ella Bella photography backdrops, Fadeless Paper, Flameless Paper, GoWrite! dry erase pads, Kaleidoscope colored paper, Little Fingers construction paper, Neon fluorescent-colored paper products, Peacock colored paper products, Plast’r Craft modeling material, Present-It easel pads, Rainbow Colored Kraft duo-finish paper, Riverside construction paper, Spectra ArtKraft duo-finish paper, Spectra Art Tissue tissue paper, Spectra Glitter, Trait-tex yarn and Tru-Ray construction paper (USW Local 2-1822 and Local 2-1822-01).
Roaring Spring: Sub-brands: Boardroom, Emoticons, Envirogold, Environotes, Enviropads, Enviroshades, Genesis, Imagine, Lifenotes, Maxim and WIDE; Products: binders and portfolios, composition notebooks, construction paper, drawing pads, envelopes, folders, index cards, Modern Jen journals and folders, poster board, sketch books and wire-bound notebooks (USW Local 488).
Other
Clauss: Scissors (UAW Local 959)
Master Lock: Locks, safes, etc. (UAW Local 469)