Back when I was a kid, my mom would sing "Look For The Union Label," a song from a TV ad about how buying clothing made by unionized US workers, rather than from sweatshops, is the right thing to do.

Now the CWA (Communications Workers of America) are playing a similar tune in their new campaign to get Americans to switch to Cingular, the only unionized cell phone carrier in the US. The CWA's site, cingularswitch.com, singles out Verizon Wireless as a company to switch from, but T-Mobile and Sprint are also non-union, according to the CWA's Jeff Miller.

Politics can definitely play a role in your shopping choices. The founders of Domino's Pizza and Curves gyms have come under criticism for supporting pro-life causes, though the fact that both companies are franchises make the issue a lot cloudier (as individual franchisees may have different opinions.) The clothing company American Apparel, meanwhile, makes a positive selling point of their excellent working conditions -- though they're also anti-union. It's a complicated world, but if the "union label" means a lot to you, you should be making calls on Cingular.