Barbara Ehrenreich Quotes

Back in early 1983, my dad was tasked with keeping unions from organizing in his company's distribution centers. His work pulled him away from home for months on end.

Something may be done under Federal authority to prevent the disturbances which so often arise from disputes between employers and the employed.

Union busting has become a major industry with more than a thousand consulting firms teaching companies how to prevent workers from organizing and how to get rid of existing unions.

Unions and their supporters in Congress claim that when employees vote on whether to unionize, the elections are tainted by employer intimidation. They're wrong.

I'm not going to stop beating up on the unions.

The denial by employers of the right of employees to organize and the refusal by employers to accept the procedure of collective bargaining lead to strikes and other forms of industrial strife or unrest, which have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce.

I will use the power of the government of the United States within my control to prevent the labor unions ... from destroying the open shop.

I will never recognize the union, never, never!

We back Solidarity [the Polish trade union], and bust our unions.

There is no other bargaining but collective bargaining.

The labor movement was a reaction to capitalism.

T-Mobile U.S.A. is one company that uses fear and intimidation to scare workers away from union representation.

I will not be in the position of having management dictated to by labor.

Unions inherently create an 'us versus them' dynamic that makes winning against a company's management the top goal, not serving customers, innovating, or in the case of education, teaching kids.

I would say that if you really wished to be a working member of the community, don't go out on strike because then there's no work and no potential of work.

After contract negotiations and organizing, playing an active role in the political process is one of a union's most important functions. Gains won at the bargaining table or through sacrifice on the picketline can be wiped out by politicians on the state or federal level.

Economic disputes are rarely the real cause of a strike. We do not have a strike because negotiations break down; negotiations break down because the situation is a strike situation.

No better strike leader than John N. Mitchell has ever emerged in any time of industrial strife.

I am a huge believer in organized labor. Period. Full stop.

Putting roadblocks in the way of legitimate strike action only increases the likelihood of more wildcat strikes, which in turn will make it that much harder for employers to address legitimate grievances, given that they'll lose the ability to negotiate with recognised union leaders.

[Ronald] Reagan bitterly hated unions and wanted them destroyed. This began with the air controllers' strike and went on from there.

The number of illegal firings tripled during the [Ronald] Reagan years. It was at that time that you started getting these companies that specialized in how to destroy unions.

It has no enforceable standards to stop a union from conspiring with employers to keep another stronger union out or from negotiating contracts with lower pay and standards that members of another union have spent a lifetime establishing.

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

Unions do have a proper role in negotiating for employees and advising employees, but they have to engage with the employer.