Political Quotes

“we are going to have a bill come up next week, a critically important bill known as the Employee Free Choice Act. I confess I come into this debate with strong feelings. I am a product of a family where my mother and father, my two brothers, and I were all members of labor unions. This was during a period where the labor movement created the middle class in America. It was World War II's aftermath. All of the returning veterans had an appetite to build homes, start families, open schools, and create the kind of middle-income working families who are the bedrock of America's democracy. The organization that helped these Americans move forward was the labor movement. Organized labor went into plants and factories and offices across America and said: Workers, if you stand together, if you bargain together, great things can happen. They did. We created health insurance as we know it today, pension plans that have provided the kind of security people dream of in retirement, good-paying jobs in safe workplaces. The American dream was realized. People bought the second car, put the kids through college, had enough time for a vacation, and enjoyed the good life in America. It is no coincidence that as the strength of America's labor movement has declined. So, too, have the wages of working families. Not that those working families aren't doing a good job; they are. They are producing more goods and services than ever.…”