Unions Quotes - Page 2

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

  Noam Chomsky

  Progress, Force, Labor Union

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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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• The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress. Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old age pensions, government relief for the destitute, and, above all, new wage levels that meant not mere survival but a tolerable life.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Struggle, Government, Survival

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

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• Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.

  Ronald Reagan

  Lost, Bargaining, Forbidden

  Labor Day Address at Liberty State Park, delivered 1 September 1980, Jersey City, New Jersey

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• The methods by which a trade union can alone act, are necessarily destructive; its organization is necessarily tyrannical.

  Henry George

  Philosophy, Organization, Political

  Henry George (1911). “perplexed philosopher [Herbert Spencer”

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• The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.

  Barack Obama

  Strong, Shadow, States

  Sixth Presidential State of the Union Address, delivered 20 January 2015

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• One of the great reasons for the popularity of strikes is that they give the suppressed self a sense of power. For once the human tool knows itself a man, able to stand up and speak a word or strike a blow.

  Charles Horton Cooley

  Blow, Men, Self

  Charles Horton Cooley (1964). “Human Nature and the Social Order”, p.261, Transaction Publishers

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• The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor.

  Thomas R. Donahue

  Greed, Answers, Organized Labor

  "When Unions are Strong, Americans Enjoy the Fruits of Their Labor" by David Morris, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 8, 2011.

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• The basic goal of labor will not change. It is - as it has always been, and I am sure always will be - to better the standards of life for all who work for wages and to seek decency and justice and dignity for all Americans.

  George Meany

  Dignity Of Work, Justice, Goal

  Archie Robinson, George Meany (1981). “George Meany and his times: a biography”, Simon & Schuster

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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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• Today in America, unions have a secure place in our industrial life. Only a handful of reactionaries harbor the ugly thought of breaking unions and depriving working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice. I have no use for those - regardless of their political party - who hold some vain and foolish dream of spinning the clock back to days when organized labor was huddled, almost as a hapless mass. Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Dream, Party, Men

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• It is to the real advantage of every producer, every manufacturer and every merchant to cooperate in the improvement of working conditions, because the best customer of American industry is the well-paid worker.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Real, Presidential, Working Conditions

  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 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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• Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior ofcapital, and deserves muchthe higher consideration.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Independent Women, Dignity Of Work, Labor Day

  "Leadership Lessons of Abraham Lincoln: Apply the Principles of the Sixteenth President to Your Own Work and Life".

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• The gap between the rich and poor is widening fast.

  Richard Rogers

  Gaps, Rich, Poor

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• Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Work, Independent, Labor Day

  Annual Message to Congress, 3 Dec. 1861

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• The unions say 'last hired - first fired,', we say hire and fire based on merit. We want the best and brightest in the classroom.

  Scott Walker

  Fire, Want, Lasts

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• If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar. If any man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool.

  Abraham Lincoln

  Trust, Hate, Liars

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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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• Our movement is of the working people, for the working people, by the working people. . . . There is not a right too long denied to which we do not aspire in order to achieve; there is not a wrong too long endured that we are not determined to abolish.

  Samuel Gompers

  Struggle, Order, Long

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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 most conservative man in this world is the British trade unionist when you want to change him.

  Ernest Bevin

  Change, Men, Political

  Speech, 8 Sept. 1927, in Report of Proceedings of the Trades Union Congress (1927) p. 298

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• Labor cannot stand still. It must not retreat. It must go on, or go under.

  Harry Bridges

  Goes On, Organized Labor, Retreat

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• Strong, responsible unions are essential to industrial fair play. Without them the labor bargain is wholly one-sided.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Strong, Play, Economic Inequality

  "The Curse of Bigness: Miscellaneous Papers of Louis D. Brandeis". Book by Louis Dembitz Brandeis, Clarence Martin Lewis, 1965.

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• You can't do it unless you organize.

  Samuel Gompers

  Organized Labor, Labor Union, Organize

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