Unions Quotes

• 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, Characteristics

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• We know what unions have done for other people. We have seen it and we have studied and we have cherished the idea of unionism. We have seen the history and development of unions in this country and we tell the growers that we want nothing more, but that we want our own union and we are going to fight for it as long as it takes.

  Cesar Chavez

  Country, Fighting, Ideas

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• The labor movement was the principal force that transforme­d misery and despair into hope and progress.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Progress, Despair, Movement

  Martin Luther King (Jr.), Michael K. Honey (2011). “All Labor Has Dignity”, p.101, Beacon Press

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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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• It’s not about the budget; it’s about the power...So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.

  Paul Krugman

  Government, People, Who Cares

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• 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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• 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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• The best customer of American industry is the well paid worker.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Working Conditions, Labor Union, Wells

  Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1938). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: F.D. Roosevelt, 1936, Volume 5”, p.504, Best Books on

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• When you have people together who believe in something very strongly - whether it's religion or politics or unions - things happen.

  Cesar Chavez

  Believe, People, Community

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• History is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Teacher, Simple, Labour Movement

  Speech to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL - CIO), December 11, 1961.

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• A basic assumption shapes most Americans’ mindset about labor: the belief that the death of unions isn’t my problem because I’m not in a union. That assumption is wrong. Even if you aren’t a member, your pay is influenced by the strength or weakness of organized labor. The presence of unions sets off a wage race to the top. Their absence sets off a race to the bottom.

  Eric Liu

  Race, Shapes, Organized Labor

  51 Copy quote

• 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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• 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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• All that harms labor is treason to America.

  Abraham Lincoln

  America, Presidential, Harm

  Martin D. Tullai, Abraham Lincoln (1998). “Speaking of Abraham Lincoln”

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• Join the union, girls, and together say Equal Pay for Equal Work.

  Susan B. Anthony

  Girl, Equal Pay, Diversity

  The Revolution, 8 Oct. 1869

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• Without the power of the Industrial Union behind it, Democracy can only enter the State as the victim enters the gullet of the Serpent.

  James Connolly

  Democracy, Victim, States

  James Connolly (1915). “The re-conquest of Ireland”

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• Men don't and can't live by exchanging articles, but by producing them. They don't live by trade, but by work. Give up that foolish and vain title of Trades Unions; and take that of laborers Unions.

  John Ruskin

  Giving Up, Men, Titles

  1880 Open letter to EnglishTrades Unions, 29 Sep.

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• People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.

  Adam Smith

  Invisible Hand, People, Competition

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 1, bk. 1, ch. 10 (1776)

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• With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in men, than any other association of men.

  Clarence Darrow

  Honesty, Character, Men

  The Railroad Trainman, November 1909.

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• I remember with strong feelings the families who joined our movement and paid dues long before there was any hope of winning contracts. Sometimes, fathers and mothers would take money out of their meager food budgets just because they believed that farm workers could and must build their own union. I remember thinking then that with spirit like that... we had to win. No force on earth could stop us.

  Cesar Chavez

  Mother, Strong, Father

  Cesar Chavez (2008). “An Organizer's Tale: Speeches”, p.216, Penguin

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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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• The important role of union organizations must be admitted: their object is the representation of the various categories of workers, their lawful collaboration in the economic advance of society, and the development of the sense of their responsibility for the realization of the common good.

  Pope Paul VI

  Responsibility, Organization, Important

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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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• 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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• The labor movement is organized upon a principle that the strong shall help the weak.

  John L. Lewis

  Strong, Labour Movement, Principles

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