|
Don’t let any man into your cab, your home, or your heart, unless he’s a friend of labor.— Jimmy Hoffa (attributed) 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, November 2004
I have found some of the best reasons I ever had for remaining at the bottom simply by looking at the men at the top.—Frank Moore Colby
When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.— Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm
The labor movement belongs to all of us, and our future should not be dictated by the demands of any group or the ambitions of any individuals.—John Sweeney, President AFL-CIO
The superior person understands rightness; the inferior person understands profit.— Confucius
We have the most wealth of any nation
because our workers have the skill to create
it. We have the best products because they
know how to make them. We have the most
democratic system because of the values our
trade unions have to sustain it.
In Unity there is strength; We can move mountains when we're united and enjoy life --Without unity we are victims. Stay united.—Bill Bailey In my time we was beaten, rotten egged, cussed, threatened, tarred and feathered and blackballed from other jobs. Hurt in so many different ways. But at our meetings our advice to the men and women that was hurt, we would just say to them what the good book says, the Lord will not put more upon you than you can bear, at least none of us lost our lives like some did in the early 30's. Thank God!... —W.M. "Jack" Anderson, first local president,
Power goes to two poles -- to those who've got the money and those who've got the people.—Saul Alinsky
United we bargain; divided we beg! —SEIU Health Care Workers Union Local 250 button
And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us, recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state, our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions: First, were we truly men of courage... Second, were we truly men of judgment... Third, were we truly men of integrity... Finally, were we truly men of dedication?—John F. Kennedy, 1961
Labor will remain united and continue to work to protect the interests of America’s working families.—William Burrus, November 2004
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
The quality of employees will be directly proportional to the quality of life you maintain for them.—Charles E. Bryan
I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. ... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.—Abraham Lincoln (attributed)
No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level --I mean the wages of decent living.—Franklin D. Roosevelt
The next time you wonder what the union does for you, take a look at the car you drive, the house you own, the standard of living you have, and realize that the union got these for you and that management is hell bent on driving your standard of living into the ground.—Tom Kelly, Local President (VT) APWU
Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy, forget in time that men have died to win them.—Franklin D. Roosevelt
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
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 superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.—Abraham Lincoln
Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy, forget in time that men have died to win them.—Franklin D. Roosevelt
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
We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.—Benjamin Franklin, July 4, 1776
I am glad to see that a system of labor prevails under which laborers can strike when they want to.—Abraham Lincoln
If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.—James Goldsmith
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
United we bargain; divided we beg!—SEIU Health Care Workers Union Local 250 button
We have come too far, -- struggled too long, -- sacrificed too much and have too much left to do, -- to allow that which we have achieved for the good of all to be swept away without a fight. And we have not forgotten how to fight.— Lane Kirkland
The only thing workers have to bargain with is their skill or their labor. Denied the right to withhold it as a last resort, they become powerless. The strike is therefore not a breakdown of collective bargaining-it is the indispensable cornerstone of that process.— Paul Clark, 1989
If you object to unfair treatment, you're an ingrate. If you seek equity and fair consideration, you're uppity. If you demand union security, you're un-American. If you rebel against repressive management tactics, they will lynch and scalp you. But if you are passive and patient, they will take advantage of both.— Congressman William Clay, Sr., speaking to the AFL-CIO Federation of Government Employees, 1975
When a man or woman, young, or old, takes a place on the picket line for even a day or two, he will never be the same again.— Cesar Chavez
“ Those who would destroy or further limit
the rights of organized labor—those who
would cripple collective bargaining or
prevent organization of the unorganized—do a
disservice to the cause of democracy” John
F. Kennedy, October 1960
hose unions that enjoy the right to strike have no guarantee that sacrificing their jobs and their livelihood will result in victory but they nevertheless engage in lengthy strikes, not because they are assured of winning but because they are determined to fight.—William Burrus, 1998
Today, we say that when you pick a fight with any of us, you pick a fight with all of us! And that when you push us, we will push back! —AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka Oct. 26, 1995
If CEOs insist that middle class Americans compete with cheap foreign labor, why not outsource the jobs of CEOs? If business is all about cost, they should be the first to volunteer.— Lou Dobbs, CNN financial correspondent and author of Exporting America (September 2004)
Divide and Conquer. As long as some people have commanded the work of others, this has been management's basic principle.—Peter Rachleff, labor historian
Business knows no pity, and cares for justice only when justice is seen to be better policy. If it had power to control the elements, it would grasp in its iron clutches the waters, sunshine and air and resell them by measure, and at exorbitant prices to the millions of famished men, women and children.—W.A. Duncan, in the Cherokee Advocate, 1892
You never
expected justice from a company, did you?
They have neither a soul to lose nor a body
to kick.— Sydney
Smith
United we bargain; divided we beg!—SEIU Health Care Workers Union Local 250 button
The labor movement means just this: It is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth.— Wendell Phillips
We live in the richest country in the world. There's plenty to spare and for no man, woman, or child to be in want. And in addition to this our country was founded on what should have been a great , true principle -- the freedom, equality, and rights of each individual. Huh! And what has come of this start? There are corporations worth billions of dollars--and hundreds of thousands of people who don't get to eat. — Carson McCullers
|
|||||
|
|||||
