Union Challenge Coins and Employee Committees

A union or employee group coin is ordered by a committee inside a larger civilian organization, funded from its members’ own money rather than from a company budget, and built on the group’s own identity because the employer’s branding is rarely available to it.

Who Orders Union and Employee Group Coins?

This is one of the largest groups of potential coin buyers in the country and almost none of them have ever been offered one.

Most large employers have a veterans group, and most large unions have a veterans committee. They exist at airlines, railroads, transit authorities, utilities, hospitals, police and fire departments, banks, retailers, universities and manufacturers. Alongside them sit employee resource groups, affinity networks, veteran hiring programs and industry associations.

They order differently from almost every other customer:

• The employer’s branding is not theirs to use. A committee cannot usually put the company’s logo on merchandise, and a corporate mark would be the wrong thing anyway. The group has to have an identity of its own.
• Members served in different branches and different eras. A veterans committee is not a unit. It is Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, across four decades, sitting in the same break room.
• The money is the committee’s own, raised from dues, a social fund or a collection, which makes quantity a real decision.
• A volunteer places the order, around a shift pattern, usually for the first time.

The occasions are specific: Veterans Day and Memorial Day events, the group’s founding or an anniversary, recognition for members who served, fundraising for a veterans charity the group supports, and welcoming members who identify themselves after joining the company.

Firefighter locals work on the same self-funded model and are covered on our page about firefighter union local coins, and the wider pattern across membership organizations is on our page about how membership organizations fund their coins.

Why a Committee Needs Its Own Identity

Here is the thing that makes this kind of group different from every other customer in this gallery, and it is worth saying plainly.

A committee inside a large employer has almost nothing that makes it visible. No office. No uniform. No patch. No sign on a door. Its members are scattered across shifts, bases, terminals or depots, and most of their colleagues do not know the group exists.

A coin is frequently the only physical object the group has. It is what a member can put on a desk, what the committee can hand to a new member, and what makes the group real to somebody who has never been to a meeting.

That has a practical consequence for the design process. There is usually nothing to work from. A unit has a crest, a fire department has a patch, a riding chapter has colors. A veterans committee has a name and an idea. So the design starts from a blank page rather than from a reproduction job, which is a different conversation and takes longer than people expect. Allow time for it, and arrive with a sense of what the group is about rather than waiting to be asked.

Representing Several Services Without Using Service Seals

Every veterans group hits this problem. The membership spans several branches, all of them want to be represented, and the official service seals are controlled marks that a civilian committee is unlikely to be authorized to reproduce.

The way around it is to use objects rather than emblems.

A silhouette of an aircraft carrier, a jet, a tank, a helicopter, a cutter or a set of wings is not a protected mark. It reads instantly as the service it belongs to, it needs no permission, and at coin size a bold vehicle silhouette frequently reads better than a detailed seal would have. The same applies to general service imagery: a flag, an anchor, a globe, a pair of boots, a rifle and helmet.

There is one piece of honest advice to go with it. If you cannot represent every branch well, represent the ones your membership actually covers. A coin that genuinely reflects the people in the room is better than one that attempts all six services and renders three of them badly. Every member looking at a multi-service coin looks for their own service first, and that problem is covered in more detail on our page about giving several service emblems equal weight.

What Goes on a Union or Committee Coin?

The local number. This does the same job a post number or a chapter number does: it is the one element that distinguishes this group from every other local in the same union, and it should be large.

The union’s name, and the committee’s name, so the object explains itself to somebody outside the group.

The city, hub or base of operations.

Service imagery, per the section above.

A short line of dedication, which on a veterans committee coin is usually the element members care about most.

Finishes tend toward brass, antique tones and brushed metal rather than bright plating, which suits both the subject and the fact that these coins are kept rather than carried.

About This TWU Local 575 Coin

The Transport Workers Union represents workers across aviation, transit and rail. Local 575 represents American Airlines cabin crew based at Dallas/Fort Worth, and this coin was made for the local’s Veterans Committee.

The coin is gold-colored brass with a brushed finish and a rope pattern running the rims. The front carries sculpted military vehicles in high relief — an aircraft carrier, a jet fighter and a tank — set against an American flag. The reverse carries the Texas and California state outlines. The small lettering stays readable at size, which on a face this busy is the part that takes the work.

Two things are worth drawing out.

The vehicles are doing the job service seals would normally do, and doing it without a permissions problem. A carrier, a jet and a tank say Navy, Air Force and Army to anyone who looks, and none of them is a controlled emblem. For a committee inside a civilian employer, that is the practical route to a multi-service coin.

The brushed finish is the right call for the subject. Brushed brass scatters light rather than reflecting it, which keeps a busy relief face readable instead of turning it into a bright jumble, and it suits an object that is going to sit on a shelf rather than be traded across a bar. The state outlines on the reverse are the local’s own geography; more on place shapes is on our page about state outlines on a coin.

Can We Use Service or Union Emblems on a Coin?

Two different questions, with two different answers.

Service emblems and seals are controlled marks. A civilian organization is unlikely to be authorized to reproduce them, which is why the object-based approach above exists. Do not assume that being a veterans group grants permission to use the emblem of a service you served in.

Union emblems are usually owned by the international union rather than by the local. A local or a committee putting the union’s emblem on merchandise may therefore need approval from two levels above it, and the rules on selling items carrying the emblem are frequently stricter than the rules on giving them away.

Clear the artwork through your local’s officers and, where the union’s marks are involved, through the international. Send us artwork your organization is authorized to supply. We produce from what the customer provides and we do not grant permission on anyone’s behalf.

Design a Coin for Your Committee

You do not need artwork and you probably do not have any, which is normal for this kind of group. Tell us the local number, the committee’s name, which services your membership covers and what the group is for, and a designer will build something from that at no cost with unlimited revisions. Nothing goes into production until you approve a digital proof.

The minimum order is 50 coins, which is worth knowing up front when a committee is paying from a social fund. Standard production runs about 45 to 50 days after final artwork approval, rush production is available on many projects, and shipping within the continental United States is included. Embleholics is veteran-owned, SDVOSB and registered in SAM.gov. See more commemorative challenge coins or request a free quote.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a union challenge coin?

A union challenge coin is made for a union local or a committee within one, rather than for an employer. It is funded by the members themselves, ordered by a volunteer officer, and built around the local’s number and identity rather than the company’s branding.

Can a union local or committee order its own coins?

Yes, and that is how nearly all of these coins are produced. Locals and their committees have their own officers and their own funds, so the order is placed at local level. Using the union’s own emblem may need approval from the international.

What goes on a coin for a veterans committee?

The local number as the largest element, the union and committee names, the city or hub, service imagery for the branches the membership covers, and a short dedication. Brass, antique and brushed finishes suit the subject better than bright plating.

Can a coin show more than one branch of service?

Yes, and veterans committee coins usually have to. Give each branch equal size, relief depth and position, because every member looks for their own service first. If all branches cannot be represented well, represent the ones your membership actually covers.

Can we use service emblems if we are a civilian organization?

Official service seals and emblems are controlled marks, and a civilian group is unlikely to be authorized to reproduce them. Vehicle silhouettes, flags, anchors, wings and similar general imagery are not protected marks and read clearly at coin size.

Can a coin be designed from scratch if we have no logo?

Yes, and most employee committees are in exactly that position. Professional artwork is included at no cost with unlimited revisions. Arrive with the group’s name, the services represented and a sense of what the group is for, and the design is built from that.

Can employee groups sell coins to members?

Many do, to recover the cost of the order or to fund the group’s activities. Check your union’s rules first where the union’s emblem appears on the coin, since restrictions on selling branded items are often tighter than on giving them away.

What is the minimum order for committee coins?

The minimum order for custom challenge coins is 50 coins. For a committee funding coins from dues or a social fund that is worth planning for early, and ordering somewhat above the minimum lowers the cost per coin if the group intends to sell any.