Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise in opposition to S.J. Res. 8 which was passed by this body earlier last week but without a veto-proof majority. It would protect corporations looking to rig union elections, always at the expense of working families. Our labor movement helped build the middle class and fought for protections so many Americans take for granted: overtime pay brought about because of collective bargaining, child labor laws, collective bargaining, and talking to Members of Congress. Child labor laws, safer workplaces, unemployment insurance, workers compensation were all brought about because people came together in unions to organize and bargain collectively and came together in unions to talk to State legislators and Members of Congress in support of unemployment insurance and in support of safer work laws, child labor laws, and workers' compensation. I am wearing my lapel with a picture of a canary in a birdcage. It was given to me 20 years ago at a workers' Memorial Day rally in Lorain, OH, a city on Lake Erie, about 25 miles west of Cleveland. This picture illustrates what the mine workers used to do 100 years ago. They took a canary down to the mines. If the canary died from lack of oxygen or toxic gas, the mine worker got out of the mines. He was on his own. He did not have a union in those days strong enough to protect him. He did not have a government in those days that cared enough to protect him.…”