John Sweeney Quotes

It is time this Congress listened to the American people and minimum-wage workers, and it is time that we act.

We have to raise the minimum wage.

Surely the time was coming when the law, which was the representative of the organized will of the people, would declare that British workers should no longer work for less than they could live upon.

We must ensure American workers get the long-overdue raise they deserve.

I don't expect to get a standing ovation from businessmen when I call for higher wages.

When we talk about the minimum wage, we have to ask ourselves what it is that we owe both our workers and employers. I think clearly we owe them fairness.

So I will stand more steadfastly for the things I stand up for, like people who work for a living. I'd like to be able to stand that way when I go to Congress.

Raising the minimum wage means we have workers paying more in to support the Social Security system.

This is the middle-class equivalent of raising the minimum wage.

The people of this country, by an overwhelming vote, are in favor of having Congress-- this Congress-- put a floor below which industrial wages shall not fall, and a ceiling beyond which the hours of industrial labor shall not rise.

We need to see the FLSA and the minimum wage as part of a larger struggle to cut poverty and to address the challenge of income inequality.

If Donald Trump wants to raise the minimum wage to $15, yes, I will work with Donald Trump.

We must organize. We must protest. We must cry out in a loud voice that America needs a raise. We must keep working until workers in this country don't have to struggle to make ends meet.

I think the Fight for 15 is a great fight. I think, unfortunately, depending how the Congress works out, we may have to get there in increments.

To be effective in tackling poverty wages, a living wage has to be mandatory and basic trade union rights should be restored so workers can protect themselves from exploitative employers.

I was on the committee that helped raise the minimum wage here in Seattle. I introduced a statewide bill to raise the minimum wage in Washington state my first year in the state senate, and I really believe that raising the federal minimum wage, while not the answer to everything, addresses a lot of the issues at the very bottom.

I don't see the minimum wage as a fight between capital and labor, between persistent small businesses and diligent employees. I think offering New Mexicans a pathway out of poverty helps all of us, no matter which side of the check you sign.

I was at the forefront of the effort to pass $15 minimum wage in Seattle, and have been collaborating with the people who are trying to make that happen across the country.

I think we should increase the minimum wage and I think $15 is a good beginning.

What we need to do is raise the minimum wage. We also need to hold onto equal pay. Women work for 76 cents on the dollar for the same work that men do. That's not right in America.

We've always been in favor of improved wages for workers. When you have a strong middle class, they want to buy more stuff at Costco.

The value of the minimum wage shouldn't be eroded, and it has been.

The state of Alaska has a minimum wage which is higher than the federal level because our state leaders have made that determination.

Mr. Speaker, the time for an increase in the minimum wage has not just arrived; it is long overdue.

President Obama has made a minimum wage increase a focal point of his economic agenda.