James P. Hoffa Quotes

Trade unionism is not a discovery or a formula. It grew and evolved slowly out of the needs of human experience.

Many people have mixed views about unions, but unions used to give people some measure of control at work. They gave them a social life and political representation in Washington, which doesn't really exist anymore.

I'm a lifelong believer in trade unionism.

The trade union, which originated under the European system, destroys liberty.

I fight like a daggone wild man for labor unions.

Public unions are big money.

I am a proud trade unionist.

Private sector labors unions continue to suffer losses in their membership while public sector and service unions grow.

Although unions may be good for a worker, singular, they are not always good for workers, plural. Especially when it comes to finding a job.

Unions are about the collective leverage, the power of numbers versus the power of capital.

My problem with unions is they breed mediocrity.

All the time our union was progressing very nicely. There were lectures to make us understand what trades unionism is and our real position in the labor movement.

Organized labor, if they're doing a responsible job, is going to organize the pooling of small amounts of money to protect the interests of the people who are not rich.

I'm a big believer in the value of labor unions and with what collective effort gets people.

The only way a workingman can get anything is by collective bargaining, and by saying "If you don't give us a raise, not only will I quit but we will all quit and tie up your business

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

Labor unions are the worst thing that ever struck the earth because they take away a man's independence.

There is no other bargaining but collective bargaining.

The picket line is the best place to train organizers. One day on the picket line is where a man makes his commitment. The longer on the picket line, the stronger the commitment. A lot of workers think they make their commitment by walking off the job when nobody sees them. But you get a guy to walk off the field when his boss is watching and, in front of the other guys, throw down his tools and march right to the picket line, that is the guy who makes our strike. The picket line is a beautiful thing because it makes a man more human.

Modern trade unions understood that deciphering a balance sheet was more important than decoding Das Kapital.

I remember being amazed that actors had a union. I thought only coal miners had unions, or guys that worked in automobile plants. That's an indication of how naive I was.

While most American labor unions have struggled for the past several decades, professional baseball players comprise one of the strongest packs of organized workers in the world.

My parents were both union members, and I grew up hearing how important it was to empower workers and have fair labor practices.

The trade union movement represents the organized economic power of the workers... It is in reality the most potent and the most direct social insurance the workers can establish.

And I think we understand we cannot make social change for all workers until we have enough strength, membership strength, and at the same time having membership strength and only making change for a limited group of workers is not what our country really needs for people that work.