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The United Steel Workers are a union formed to bargain agreements for steel workers. Their agreements set the pattern for hundreds of thousands of workers in dozens of industries for (re)negotiationg contracts or benefits and providing standards in work areas. They also secure equal treatment on the job and provide an established procedure for resolving differences with supervisors and management — a grievance procedure that resolves disputes on their merits, not on favoritism. Unions are not standard policy for all companies and must be incorporated into some existing positions. Requesting potential members to, "vote yes," means that the employees will elect to have the union at their profession and pay the dues toward that union so that the union will work as a mediator between the employee and the employer to take care of group benefits.

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The Farm Equipment & Metal Workers union was started in 1938 at the International Harvester plant in Chicago, Illinois. It gained traction in other factories within the company over other worker’s unions, such as United Auto Workers, due to the FE & MW union prioritizing recruitment of African-American workers and implementing anti-discrimination policies. The union had African-American leadership within the organization, which was rare during that time. The union is said to have had roots in the Communist Party, but the extent of the ties may have been exaggerated by the company who was firmly anti-union. The union made significant progress towards worker rights through the use of work stoppage strikes. When World War II started, the union supported the wartime “no strike pledge,” but did decide to strike and those actions enabled the union to raise worker wages by 80%.

In 1947, the FE union had their most successful worker rights movement at an International Harvester plant in Louisville, Kentucky. The union was able to unite black and white workers, uncommon at the time in Kentucky. Through the use of work stoppages, any time company management breached their contract, the union got results and was seen as superior for worker rights to UAW. 

The beginning of the end for FE was the passing of the Taft-Hartley Act, which limited the activities and power of labor unions. In 1952, International Harvester requested work speedups, pay cuts, and more leverage over workers. In response, 30,000 FE members went on strike. The strike lagged and the union ran out of money. Many workers crossed the picket line and one was found murdered. Though later acquitted, a local union leader was arrested and tried for the murder, which resulted in a negative opinion of FE in the media and public. FE gave up on the strike after 87 days and signed a company favorable deal. That same year, the House Un-American Activities Committee brought in several FE leaders to testify further alienating the group. FE continued to lose members in the 50s and eventually merged with UAW in 1955.

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The United Steelworkers is a general trade union founded in 1942. It has come to represent workers in different industries including metal, paper, chemicals, glass, rubber, heavy-duty conveyor belting, tired, transportation, and utility industries in the U.S. and around the world. The organization started as the Steelworkers’ Organizing Committee SWOC) of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in June 17, 1936 in an effort to organize steel makers, who had been mostly nonunion since the Homestead Lockout of 1892. SWOC had its first win against U.S. Steel, who had set up company unions during the Great Depression created and controlled by management in order to keep independent companies out of the company. SWOC convinced many U.S. Steel workers to support independent unions leading to talks with U.S. Steel chairman Myron Taylor that resulted in a contract between the SWOC and U.S. Steel. The SWOC was later renamed to the United Steel Workers of America in 1942, gaining strong membership during WWII in part due to decisions not to strike in exchange for government mandates to employers that spurred organizing. The USWA fought the steelworking industry over wages, benefits and working condition in the postwar era, and led five nationwide strikes between 1946 and 1959, resulting in negotiated pensions for workers. By 1960, steelworkers were among the best paid manufacturing workers in America. The cost of these victories contributed to the collapse of the American steel industry, leading to layoffs and devastating USWA membership. The USWA brought in other industries to its jurisdiction, such as mill workers, stone workers, rubber and plastic workers, aluminum, brick and glass workers. The USWA has grown to become the U.S.'s largest industrial union, coming to represent 1.2 million workers in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. It also has an international presence in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland, Mexico and other places around the world, representing workers in nearly every industry there is.

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The Chicago Truck Drivers Union was unique for maintaining its independence from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for the entire twentieth century. In the early 1980s the Union was at its peak in terms of membership, representing more than 12,000 members. This membership dwindled by the end of the 1900s however, and the CTDU merged with Teamsters Local 710 in 2000.

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The Get Along Gang is a group of young anthropomorphic animals created by American Greetings in 1983. The characters met in an abandoned caboose and had adventures that highlighted the importance of teamwork, diversity, and friendship. Because of the success of the books and merchandise, the show was given one season (13 episodes) on CBS television from 1984-1985, but remained on the air in rerun through 1986. The Get Along Gang was also picked up by other distributors for merchandise after its television debut including Tomy toys, Scholastic Press, and Marvel Comics. Although the series waned in popularity, the animated series was later rebroadcast on multiple television stations in the 90s and 00s, later resulting in several versions of DVD releases with varying episodes.

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The "Thumbody" characters were originally created by Neil Baker in the 1960s. He began his art by using customer fingerprints before creating a line of designs using his own fingerprint that was in use from the 1960s through the 1980s. Thumb Things, now doing business as Button Works, Inc., featured a series of thumbprint drawings with catchy phrases all using the word thumb. The designs were not initally copyrighted and were sold or gifted as art pieces for several years before any commercial attention.

The Mental Health Association used the phrase, "I'm thumbody," and copied the idea behind Baker's drawings creating and copyrighting their own line of thumbprint characters advocating for mental health awareness that still used Baker's original thumbprint from drawings they had purchased.

James R. Williams of Williams & Associates of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania also claimed and copyrighted the thumbprint idea. The “I’m Thumbody” character was created and used for a promotion for First Federal Savings & Loan in the 1970s. The bank gave away promotional merchandise featuring the thumb-buddies including beach towels, buttons, and other memorabilia.

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The Blue Island Lions Club has a yearly parade celebrating the 4th of July. For this event, the club sold buttons along the parade route to raise funds to continue to put on the parades. The 1977 parade button was designed by Win Nash, on the theme “jubilation 77.” The 1977 parade included a junior parade before the senior parade, with over 100 entries and featured floats, bands, drum and bugle corps, marching units, decorated vehicles, and public figures such as local congressmen, the sheriff of Cook county, and even the Governor of Illinois. After the parade, there were other festivities such as musical performances, a sky divers show, and fireworks.

The Lion's Club is a secular service club organization, founded in Oak Brook, Illinois, which promotes volunteerism, community involvement, and environmental awareness, among other things. 

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The Blue Island Lions Club has a yearly parade to celebrate the 4th of July. Lions Club members sold buttons along the parade route to raise funds to continue to put on the 4th of July parades and festivities. The 1958 parade included more than 76 trombones and the festivities that followed included a double-header little league game as well as drum-bugle corps competitions. The Lion's Club is a secular service club organization, founded in Oak Brook, Illinois, which promotes volunteerism, community involvement, and environmental awareness, amongst other things.

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The 1961 Blue Island, Illinois Lions Club annual 4th of July Parade marked the 15th anniversary of the parade and had a budget of $6,500 due to previous years button sales along the parade route. The theme of the parade was Civil War Centennial. Another centennial being celebrated at the same time was of St. Benedict Catholic parish in Blue Island, Illinois. The Lion's Club is a secular service club organization, founded in Oak Brook, Illinois, which promotes volunteerism, community involvement, and environmental awareness, among other things.