quotations about labor unions
It is absolutely necessary for unions to contribute and compete in the political sphere; otherwise hedge fund billionaires would control the political landscape.
TONY JOHNSTON
letter to the editor, "Attacks on public worker unions were misleading", Chicago Sun Times, March 10, 2016
Let the Unions become engines for the working people to right their wrongs. Not benefit societies, or burial clubs. Let the Unions become civilian regiments to fight in the cause of the people.
RICHARD LLEWELLYN
How Green Was My Valley
There was no precise moment when the tide began to turn against labor unions in America. There was no single catastrophic event -- no landmark strike that was broken, no massive organizing campaign that was turned back, no key negotiation that went poorly for labor. But beyond any doubt, since the early 1980s, unions have lost many of their resources and much of their influence.
GARY CHAISON
Unions and Legitimacy
Our economy is out of balance. Growing labor unions, rather than decimating them, is one way to bring a measure of economic stability to our nation.
JOHN PATRICK
AFL-CIO, March 10, 2016
In the more civilised climes, the role of trade unions transcends the picket-lines. Even more important than organising strikes, their functions include researching into strategies for avoiding strikes. Trade unions should be society's watch-dog, constantly keeping all institutions of government and the organised private sector on their toes.
JOSEF OMOROTIONMWAN
"Where are the Trade Unions?", Vanguard, March 10, 2016
The trade union movement is a vital part of what makes up a democratic society. Trade unions ensure that we are all treated fairly and justly at work and they are a fundamental building block of a civilised society.
KEVIN COURTNEY
"Teacher unions are 'highly-paid Trotskyites with a grievance'", The Telegraph, March 13, 2016
Over the past few decades, labor unions have been seriously weakened by acceding to the rules of a political game rigged by wealthy, powerful elites. Collective bargaining, the forty-hour week, overtime, social security, union representation in the public sector -- each was won through direct action. Unions had to engage in activities that were defined as illegal and cast as immoral by those who controlled business, government, and, often, religious institutions.
LOIS WEINER
"The CTU's Strike for Democracy", Jacobin, April 1, 2016
The character of the labor movement derives in large part from the relations between labor unions. The extent to which values are shared and formal structures are inclusive matter too, of course, but it is the way unions deal with one another that largely determines whether labor solidarity is meaningful or a hollow pretense.
DAVID J. WALSH
On Different Planes
Nothing comes closer to a marriage than hiring a teamster. And it's easier to get a divorce than to try to remove a teamster from a job.
ARTHUR IMPERATORE
The New York Times, May 16, 1992
If the people knew stuff like that was being done, that civic work was being done by labor unions, that labor unions aren't something way over and far away, that labor people are people just like anybody else, we would achieve more.
ANONYMOUS
Proceedings of the Annual Convention: Colorado State Industrial Union Council
Unions may well have a distinctive susceptibility to organized crime racketeering. They are attractive targets because they receive a constant flow of dues and pension and welfare contributions that employers automatically deduct from workers' pay.
JAMES B. JACOBS
Mobsters, Unions, and Feds: The Mafia and the American Labor Movement
The state of the Union largely depends on the state of the unions.
EVAN ESAR
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