"The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.  Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old age pensions, government relief for the destitute, and above all new wage levels that meant not mere survival but a tolerable life.  The captains of industry did not lead this transformation".......Martin Luther King

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital.  Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor had not first existed.  Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration".......President Abraham Lincoln

"How can anyone with a straight face propose a capital gains tax cut when owners of capital are running off with these gains from workers"?.....Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor 1995

"It is a mystery to me...why so many conservative American businessmen complain about American unions...What do they [workers] buy?  They buy what conservative American businessmen are selling"......George Will

"The establishment people tell us that if the workers wanted to share the profits, it was called communism.  When management wants to share profits, it is called a bonus".....Phil Donahue, TV commentator

"If wages fall for the millions, an economy that depends on consumer purchasing power will be a society where inequality spreads, growth barely totters forward, and resentment and bitterness poison out social and political relations....They will not pay for prosperity either.  Without prosperity, true growth, democracy, like the workers' family, is imperiled".....Bill Moyer, Television journalist

* 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.