Richard Trumka Quotes

Heed this cry that comes from the hearts of men. Organize the Unorganized.

Solidarity was the best thing which happened in the 20th century.

A movement is only composed of people moving. To feel its warmth and motion around us is the end as well as the means.

Solidarity is an attitude of resistance, I suppose, or it should be.

And the spirit of revolution will not die while the hearts of these workers continue to beat.

Starting that union was something I believed in very strongly.

We need not only one Cesar Chavez; we need a thousand Cesar Chavezes.

We have to realize we are building a movement.

So we must stand together to resist, for we will get what we can take - just that and no more.

A divided labor movement hurts the prospects of union members and it makes me very angry.

Solidarity Forever

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.

I don't ever remember a single day of hopelessness. I knew from the history of the labor movement, especially of the black people, that it was an undertaking of great trial. That, live or die, I had to stick with it, and we had to win.

I believe we can make progress on bringing true equality and fairness back to our government if we continue to work together and make our voices heard.

People think that we're engaged with identity politics. The truth is that we're doing what the labor movement has always done - organizing people who are at the bottom.

Collective action remains the best way of renewing the march towards the great trinity of liberty, equality, and solidarity.

Relationships with sister guilds are growing stronger and stronger. It's important that all of us are working together - all the unions and the employers. It behooves us to come together.

We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick.

And who will join this standing up and the ones who stood without sweet company will sing and sing back into the mountains and if necessary even under the sea: we are the ones we have been waiting for.

We have to organize. We have to build up coalitions across all of these people who are considered "the other." If we all banded together and built coalitions that were truly intersectional, we would be in power. I believe in the power of the people.

When we organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress.

We are tired of words, of betrayals, of indifference...they years are gone when the farm worker said nothing an did nothing to help himself...Now we have new faith. Through our strong will, our movement is changing these conditions...We shall be heard.

You have got to unite in the same labor union and in the same political party and strike and vote together, and the hour you do that, the world is yours.

Leftism should be about the people. That's how it began.

I think we will see a united labor movement again. When workers unite they're stronger. The same goes for unions.