Richard Ojeda Quotes

Instead of focusing on attacking unions and the labor movement, we need to find ways to strengthen and empower workers so we can put more money in the pockets of middle class families.

The labor movement has lifted more people out of poverty than all the programs in the country.

There is no better way to improve wages and working conditions in our country than to support the right to unionize. Throughout our history, unions have improved the lives of millions of American families, grown the middle class, and pushed our economy forward.

Unions continue to be important for raising the standard of living for working Americans, whether or not they happen to be in a union.

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.

I sometimes think that unions don't understand that we live in a free society, and people have the right to not select union representation if they don't want it.

I came from a family where joining a union was the expected thing to do. I've always believed that the relationship between an employer and an individual worker is fundamentally unequal.

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

I will only stop defending the rights of workers when I die.

When labor is strong, America is strong.

When union membership goes down, so do wages.

I will strengthen our unions and our middle-class families so that no longer will they be pushed around by employers but will finally have a seat at the table.

I am proud to stand with working families and honored to have AFGE's support.

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.

The union movement has been the best middle class job creating program that America has ever had, and it doesn't cost the government a dime.

In the heart of the Great Depression, millions of American workers did something they'd never done before: they joined a union. Emboldened by the passage of the Wagner Act, which made collective bargaining easier, unions organized industries across the country, remaking the economy.

That's what unions do. They can get money, they can get support, they can get manpower.

In Finland, where 80 percent of workers belong to unions, all employees enjoy at least 30 days paid vacation, and the gap between the rich and poor is far more equitable than in the United States.

By the mid-1950s, more than a third of all America workers in the private sector were unionized. And the unions demanded and received a fair slice of the American pie.

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

I think you'll see if you look at 'Up', we've focused a lot on labor (and the forces trying to keep labor down) and have featured everything from Wal Mart workers, to on-the-ground organizers, to union presidents to restaurant workers sitting at the table sharing their experience and expertise.

If I went to work in a factory the first thing I'd do is join a union.

The unions may continue to decline, but if they do, it'll be their fault.

During three decades from 1947 to 1977, the nation implemented what might be called a basic bargain with American workers. Employers paid them enough to buy what they produced.

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