Political Quotes

“Mr. President, yesterday around the country, Americans gathered to honor the women and men who built our economy and continue to power it today--American workers. Almost every year when we return after Labor Day, I speak about American workers--those who work with their hands, their shoulders, their arms, their brains--because all work has dignity. All work matters to our country. Martin Luther King said, ``All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance.'' He told the Local 1199 hospital workers union more than 50 years ago that ``no labor is really menial unless you're not getting adequate wages''--something that is too often the case today. Let me talk a little bit about that. All work has dignity. That is what Labor Day is all about. Over the last week, I traveled all over Ohio, meeting with workers who power our State and support our families. Last week, I talked with mineworkers and Teamsters in Cambridge, in Eastern Ohio, in Appalachia. They are fighting to protect the pensions they earned over a lifetime of work. One retired coal miner, John Vargo, who was there with his wife Linda, gave me a coal-black beer stein that was given to his father. Five thousand of those steins were given out to UMWA members 40 years ago. The front features a miner with a pickax doing his job working through a black tunnel.…”