Union organizers don’t often hear an employer say that organizing is a “no brainer,” but for Advantage Emblem and Screen Printing, that’s what it was. 
Advantage’s founder and president, Nathan Bentley, said he’s had an ongoing relationship with Ironworkers 512 and the Carpenters because of the volunteer work they do with Bentleyville, building and assembling the massive decorations for the holiday display. And while unions were interested in buying the kind of products Advantage sells, they didn’t, because Advantage wasn’t union. The relationship with the Ironworkers ended up opening the door, however. Pat Kackman, an organizer with Painters Local 106, was working on a picket with Ironworker organizer Jeremy Lambert, who mentioned that Advantage was hoping to get union business. “I said, that’s funny, I’ve been trying to get past the front desk to organize them — what are the chances you can get me in?” Kackman said.

The two of them went to Advantage, and they ended up having a long conversation with Bentley and other leaders at the company. Over time, Kackman brought in Jack Carlson, president of IUPAT District Council 82 and a business representative for Local 106. “We talked about what it would look like to be a union shop, and now that they’re a signatory contractor, the doors are wide open,” Carlson said.
Advantage exceeded the wage and benefit requirements to sign a contract, and the decision was “almost a no brainer,” Bentley said. The workers were a little hesitant — “not against it, it was just the hesitation of the unknown,” Bentley said — but that once they talked to union leaders, they realized very little was going to change.
As a result, there’s now a local shop for screen-printed t-shirts, emblems, awards, banners and other swag that unions tend to buy.
Bentley got his start as a teenager selling patches for the Boy Scouts, expanding his business over the years to the national level. In 1991, he expanded into screen printing, focusing on t-shirts, and then added embroidery.
“As we learned more, we realized that organizations that bought one product tended to want other kinds of products as well,” Bentley said. “If you’re buying a banner, you’ll probably also buy awards.”
The business was in Morgan Park for 18 years, then moved to its current location near the airpark in 2007, where it produces and ships almost all of its products. 
Having a local shop has already paid off. The Duluth Building and Construction Trades Council had its annual golf tournament earlier this month, and a mishap with getting shirts ready meant they were scrambling at the last minute. “We went to them on Wednesday [before the Saturday tournament] to get 200 shirts, and it was no problem,” Kackman said. “To have someone in town who can do that is pretty amazing.”
Carlson said it’s been a while since there’s been a contractor who’s able to offer this array of products north of the Twin Cities, “or honestly even down in the metro — not one that does all this apparel and products.”
The company has more than 35 employees and about a third of them are in the union.