"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work."                     Thomas Edison

 "Power concedes nothing without a demand.  It never did and it never will."   Frederick Douglas

 "I think American labor unions get a large share of the credit for making us a middle-class country."

columnist George Will

"If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it for themselves."

former AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland

The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor." 

Thomas Donohue, president AFL-CIO

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital.  Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could neve have existed if Labor had not first existed.  Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."  Abraham Lincoln

"Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of their right to join the union of their choice."   Dwight D. Eisenhower

"It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that is free and independent labor unions."  Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"Every advance in this half-century-Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education, one after another-came with the support and leadership of American Labor."  Jimmy Carter

"In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as 'right to work'.  It provides no 'rights' and no 'works'.  Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining....We demand this fraud be stopped."  Martin Luther King, JR.

"Although it is true that only about 20 percent of American workers are in unions, that 20 percent sets the standards across the board in salaries, benefits and working conditions.  If you are making a decent salary in a non-union company, you owe that to the unions.  One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts."  Molly Ivins

"The fight is not about grapes or lettuce.  It is about people."  Cesar Chavez

"Solidarity is not a matter of sentiment but a fact, cold and impassive as the granite foundations of a skyscraper.  If the basic elements, identity of interest, clarity of vision, honesty of intent, and oneness of purpose, or any of these is lacking, all sentimental pleas for solidarity, and all other efforts to achieve it will be barren of results."   Eugene V. Debs

"The labor movement is organized upon a principle that the strong shall help the weak.  The strength of a strong man is a prideful thing, but the unfortunate thing in life is that strong men do not remain strong.  And it is just as true of unions and labor organizations as is true of men and individuals.  An wheras today the craft unions of this country may be able to stand upon their own feet and like mighty oaks stand before the gale, defy the lightning, yet the day may come when those organizations will not be able to withstand the lightning and the gale.  Now, prepare yourselves by making a contribution to your less fortunate brethren...Organize the unorganized!"  John L. Lewis