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With all the right to work falsehoods being pushed by
politicians and the negative spin on unions we increasingly see in the media,
it might do us all well to remember that many great leaders have expressed
support for the labour movement. To that end, this will be the first in a
series of notable labour-related statements from great leaders. We begin the
series with US Presidents, both past and present.
President
Abraham Lincoln – 16th President of the United States
Abraham Lincoln – 16th President of the United States
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If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates
labor, he is a liar. If any man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor,
he is a fool.
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Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital.
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had
not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher
consideration.
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I am glad to see that a system of labor prevails under
which laborers can strike when they want to.
President
Franklin D. Roosevelt – 32nd President of the United States
Franklin D. Roosevelt – 32nd President of the United States
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If I went to work in a factory, the first thing I’d do
would be to join a Union.
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No business which depends for existence on paying less
than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By
living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence Level — I mean the wages of
decent living.
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Goods produced under conditions which do not meet a
rudimentary standard to decency should be regarded as contraband and not
allowed to pollute the channels of international commerce.
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It is to the real advantage of every producer, every
manufacturer and every merchant to cooperate in the improvement of working
conditions, because the best customer of American industry is the well-paid
worker.
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The test of our progress is not whether we add more to
the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those
who have too little.
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Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we
enjoy, forget in time that men have died to win them.
Harry
S. Truman – 33rd President of the United States
S. Truman – 33rd President of the United States
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It is time that all Americans realized that the place
of labor is side by side with the businessman and with the farmer, and not
one-degree lower.
President
John F. Kennedy – 35th President of the United States
John F. Kennedy – 35th President of the United States
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The American Labor Movement has consistently
demonstrated its devotion to the public interest. It is, and has been, good for
all America.
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Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups.
They have raised wages, shortened hours, and provided supplemental benefits.
Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought
justice and democracy to the shop floor.
President
Barack Obama – 44th President of the United States
Barack Obama – 44th President of the United States
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If American workers are being denied their right to
organize and collectively bargain when I’m in the White House, I will put on a
comfortable pair of shoes myself and I will walk on that picket line with you
as President of the United States of America.
Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their
corner.
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It was working men and women who made the 20th century
the American century. It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of
what we take for granted today. The
40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social
Security, Medicare, retirement plans.
The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.