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Unions are as important as they ever were—because corporations are just as dedicated to their bottom line, regardless of the consequences for workers. The nature of work in America is changing. Employers are trying to shed responsibilities—for providing health insurance, good pension coverage, reasonable work hours and job safety protections, while making workers' jobs and incomes less secure through downsizing, part-timing and contracting out.
Working people need a voice at work to keep employers from making our jobs look like they did 100 years ago, with sweatshop conditions, unlivable wages and 70-hour workweeks. Here are quotes from Americans who understood the importance of a Union in the workplace and the community. A. PHILLIP RANDOLPH
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. ABRAHAM LINCOLN:
The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation should be one uniting working people of all nations and tongues and kindreds.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN:
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. CESAR CHAVEZ:
The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people. CLARENCE DARROW:
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:
You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER:
Only a fool would try to deprive working men and working women of their right to join the union of their choice. EUGENE V. DEBS:
Ten thousand times has the labor movement stumbled and bruised itself. We have been enjoined by the courts, assaulted by thugs, charged by the militia, traduced by the press, frowned upon in public opinion, and deceived by politicians. 'But notwithstanding all this and all these, labor is today the most vital and potential power this planet has ever known, and its historic mission is as certain of ultimate realization as is the setting of the sun. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT:
If capitalism is fair then unionism must be. If men have a right to capitalize their ideas and the resources of their country, then that implies the right of men to capitalize their labor. FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT:
It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that is have free and independent labor unions. JIMMY CARTER:
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. JOE HILL:
If the workers took a notion they could stop all speeding trains; Every ship upon the ocean they can tie with mighty chains. Every wheel in the creation, every mine and every mill; Fleets and armies of the nation, will at their command stand still. JOHN L. LEWIS:
The labor movement is organized upon a principle that the strong shall help the weak. The strength of a strong man is a prideful thing, but the unfortunate thing in life is that strong men do not remain strong. And it is just as true of unions and labor organizations as is true of men and individuals. And whereas today the craft unions of this country may be able to stand upon their own feet and like mighty oaks stand before the gale, defy the lightning, yet the day may come when those organizations will not be able to withstand the lightning and the gale. Now, prepare yourselves by making a contribution to your less fortunate brethren... Organize the unorganized! JOHN L. LEWIS:
Let the workers organize. Let the toilers assemble. Let their crystallized voice proclaim their injustices and demand their privileges. Let all thoughtful citizens sustain them, for the future of Labor is the future of America. LANE KIRKLAND:
If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves. LYA SORANO:
When we talk about equal pay for equal work, women in the workplace are beginning to catch up. If we keep going at this current rate, we will achieve full equality in about 475 years. I don't know about you, but I can't wait that long. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.:
In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining... We demand this fraud be stopped. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.:
We must learn to live together as brothers or we are going to perish together as fools. MOLLY IVINS:
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. MOTHER JONES:
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." POPE PAUL VI:
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. SAMUEL GOMPERS:
What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood more noble, womanhood more beautiful, and childhood more happy and bright. SAMUEL GOMPERS:
You can't do it unless you organize. SUSAN B. ANTHONY:
Join the union, girls, and together say Equal Pay for Equal Work. THOMAS JEFFERSON:
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned -- this is the sum of good government. WENDELL PHILLIPS:
The labor movement means just this: It is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth. |
