[1] The melody is the 1907 standard "Red Wing" by Kerry Mills,[2] which was in turn adapted from Robert Schumann's piano composition "The Happy Farmer, Returning From Work" in his 1848 Album for the Young, Opus 68.
Another member, Pete Seeger, writes: "I'm proud to say I was present when 'Union Maid' was written in June, 1940, in the plain little office of the Oklahoma City Communist Party.
Bob Wood, local organizer, had asked Woody Guthrie and me to sing there the night before for a small group of striking oil workers.
An alternate version, credited to Nancy Katz, appears in the 1973 (34th) and subsequent editions of the IWW's Little Red Songbook, and starts, "A woman’s struggle is hard, even with a union card".
[5] The 1973 single "Part of the Union" by British rock band The Strawbs draws on similar themes to Guthrie's song, to the extent that some sections - in particular the second verse - could be considered as a cover version.