Union Solidarity Quotes

• Only a fool would try to deprive working men and working women of their right to join the union of their choice.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Men, Choices, Democracy

  Dwight D. Eisenhower, Alfred Dupont Chandler, Louis Galambos (1978). “The papers: The chief of staff”

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• The people united will never be defeated.

  Cesar Chavez

  People, Defeated, United

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• Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours, and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.

  John F. Kennedy

  Self, Justice, Presidential

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• My friends, it is solidarity of labor we want. We do not want to find fault with each other, but to solidify our forces and say to each other: We must be together; our masters are joined together and we must do the same thing.

  Mother Jones

  Labor Force, Together, Want

  Mother Jones (1988). “The speeches and writings of Mother Jones”

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• There is no power in the world that can stop the forward march of free men and women when they are joined in the solidarity of human brotherhood.

  Walter Reuther

  Freedom, Power, Men

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• When fewer workers have unions, the standard of living falls for everyone and the gap between the rich and poor grows.

  John Sweeney

  Fall, Economic Inequality, Gaps

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• Every advance in this half-century-Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education, one after another-came with the support and leadership of American Labor.

  Jimmy Carter

  Rights, Support, Presidential

  United States. President (1977-1981 : Carter), Jimmy Carter (1980). “Jimmy Carter”

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• One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts.

  Molly Ivins

  Heart, Giving, Deregulation

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• The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor.

  A. Philip Randolph

  Uplifting, Labour Movement, Essence

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• If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves.

  Lane Kirkland

  Funny, Money, Hard Work

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• The history of the labor movement needs to be taught in every school in this land. America is a living testimonial to what free men and women, organized in free democratic trade unions can do to make a better life. We ought to be proud of it!

  Hubert H. Humphrey

  School, Men, Land

  Address to the Minnesota State AFL-CIO Convention, 1977.

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• The labor movement means just this: It is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth.

  Wendell Phillips

  Mean, Labour Movement, People

  Wendell Phillips (1891). “Speeches, Lectures, and Letters: Second series”

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• Finally, it was about how people treat one another. It was about human dignity. We forced the employers to treat us as equals, to sit down and talk to us about the work we do, how we do it, and what we get paid for it. And I believe that the principles for which we fought in 1934 are still true and still useful. Whether your job is pushing a four-wheeler, or programming a computer, I don't know of any way for working people to win basic economic justice and dignity except by being organized into a solid, democratic union.

  Harry Bridges

  Jobs, Work, Believe

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• Where trade unions are most firmly organized, there are the rights of the people most respected.

  Samuel Gompers

  Respect, Rights, Organization

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• It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that it have free and independent labor unions.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Independent, Organized Labor, Unions

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• The American Labor Movement has consistently demonstrated its devotion to the public interest. It is, and has been, good for all America.

  John F. Kennedy

  Labour Movement, America, Presidential

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• With all their faults, trade-unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed.

  Clarence Darrow

  Men, Organization, Labor Day

  The Railroad Trainman, November 1909.

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• Labor is not fighting for a larger slice of the national pie-labor is fighting for a larger pie.

  Walter Reuther

  Struggle, Fighting, Pie

  The New Republic, Vol. 114, 1946.

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• Although it is true that only about 20 percent of American workers are in unions, that 20 percent sets the standards across the board in salaries, benefits and working conditions. If you are making a decent salary in a non-union company, you owe that to the unions. One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts.

  Molly Ivins

  Heart, Giving, Salary

  "Labor’s Fight Is OUR Fight" by Dave Johnson, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 29, 2012.

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• The labor movement is people. Our unions have brought millions of men and women together, made them members one of another, and given them common tools for common goals. Their goals are goals for all America - and their enemies are the enemies for progress. The two cannot be separated.

  John F. Kennedy

  Men, Two, America

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• Labor #‎ Unions are the leading force for #‎ democratization and #‎ progress .

  Noam Chomsky

  Progress, Unions, Force

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• If capitalism is fair then unionism must be. If men and women have a right to capitalize their ideas and the resources of their country, then that implies the right of men and women to capitalize their labor.

  Frank Lloyd Wright

  Country, Men, Ideas

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• The trade union movement represents the organized economic power of the workers... It is in reality the most potent and the most direct social insurance the workers can establish.

  Samuel Gompers

  Reality, Organization, Movement

  "Not Even Compulsory Benevolence Will Do". The American Federationist, Volume 24, 1917.

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• We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton

  Inspiring, Women, 4th Of July

  Declaration of Sentiments, First Woman's Rights

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• As it has over the decades, the union movement stands for the fundamental moral values that make America strong: quality education for our children, affordable health care for every person-not just some-an end to poverty, secure pensions and wages that enable families to sustain the middle-class life that has fueled this nation's prosperity and strength. Union members and other working family activists don't just vote our moral values-we live them. We fight for them, day in, day out. Our commitment to economic and social justice propels us and everything we do.

  John Sweeney

  Strong, Children, Commitment

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