Wanderlei Silva Quotes

To fulfill the promise of economic opportunity, we must remain true to the principle that collective bargaining is a cornerstone of a free society and indispensable to a strong middle class.

We were no experts in the field of labor organization, but we had something in common with our fellow workers -- we were all poor -- we were all overworked -- we were all victims of the 84 hour week. In fact, we were all so low down on the economic and social ladder that we had nowhere to go but up

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

So why am I facing a recall election? Simple: the big government union bosses from Washington want their money. They don't like the fact that I did something fundamentally pro-worker; something that's truly about freedom.

I think organized labor is a necessary part of democracy. Organized labor is the only way to have fair distribution of wealth.

You can't be pro-labor and anti-business.

Many of my students assume that government protection is the only thing ensuring decent wages for most American workers. But basic economics shows that competition between employers for workers can be very effective at preventing businesses from misbehaving.

What one state could not get alone, what one miner against a powerful corporation could not achieve, can be achieved by the union.

Out of the agony and travail of economic America the Committee for Industrial Organization was born.

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

I have known the fruits of strikes. The bitter and the sweet. Hunger and music.

Trade unions are a force for good - a force for a more equal society.

It is essential that there should be organization of labor. This is an era of organization. Capital organizes and therefore labor must organize.

After I had been working as a cap maker for three years it began to dawn on me that we girls needed an organization. The men had organized already, and had gained some advantages, but the bosses had lost nothing, as they took it out on us.

The question is always 'What is the role of a labor movement?' How much is about collective bargaining, how much is about social change for all workers?

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 unions used to sell security. They can’t deliver any more.

The labor question is the same the world over, and laborers of the world should clasp hands for their common wealth.

Labor cannot on any terms surrender the right to strike.

I am always on the side of labor when there is any compromise to be made.

Unions may also legitimately resort to strikes where this is the only available means to the justice owed to workers

Labor Unions are revolutionary and anarchistic and a menace to the entire social and industrial system of the United States.

Let him who will, be he economic tyrant or sordid mercenary, pit his strength against this mighty upsurge of human sentiment now being crystallized in the hearts of thirty million workers who clamor for the establishment of industrial democracy and for participation in its tangible fruits. He is a madman of a fool who believes that this river of human sentiment can be damned.

All that harms labor is treason to America.