"The next time you wonder what the union does for you, take a look at the car you drive, the house you own, the standard of living you have, and realize that the union got these for you and that management is hell bent on driving your standard of living into the ground."......Tom Kelly, APWU local president

"It is one of th enduring triumphs of the labor movement that not only have you worked for yourselves, but you have not forgotten the rest of America. When you work for a minimum wage law, most of organized labor is not really affected, but you are affected in the sense that you are helping millions of others who have no way to express themselves."....Benjamin Hooks, Civil Rights Leader

"It is one of our proudest boasts that the American working class has, generally speaking, the highest standard of living of any working class in the world. How did our workingmen achieve this position?  Only through struggle, intense struggle against bitter opposition and especially through the struggle of organized labor."....Rockwell Kent, writer of High Treason

"We have the most wealth of any nation because our workers have the skill to create it. We have the best products because they know how to make them. We have the most democratic system because of the values our trade unions have to sustain it."....Vice President Walter Mondale 1981

"In every single democracy in the world you will find a vibrant, vital labor movement. The reason is that in a democratic society, where you have a system of checks and balances, a labor movement is absolutely indespensible....There will always be unions as long as there are bosses."....Douglas Frazer in Robust Unionism 1991

* Note:  all quotes used here are from Peter Bollen's book: Great Labor Quotations, first published in 2000.  Peter was a member of the American Postal Workers Union.