A. Philip Randolph, from his speech at the 1963 “March on Washington”
UC Radio: 2015.08.13
“Look for the enemies of Medicare, of higher minimum wages, of Social Security, of federal aid to education and there you will find the enemy of the Negro, the coalition of Dixiecrats and reactionary Republicans that seek to dominate the Congress.”
A. Philip Randolph from his speech at the 1963 “March on Washington”
UC Radio: 2015.08.13
“Black and white workers did not fight each other because they hated each other, but they hated each other because they fought each other. They fought each other because they did not know each other. They did not know each other because they had no control or communication with each other because they were afraid of each other.”
A. Philip Randolph
UC Radio: 2016.12.16
“We’re with you,” the mill worker said. “We’re in the same boat…I won’t call the employers despots. I won’t call them tyrants. But the term capitalist is sort of synonymous and it will do.”
A Pittsburgh mill worker in 1877 declaring solidarity with the striking rail workers
UC Radio: 2017.07.14
“Eight Hours Work, Eight Hours Rest, and Eight Hours Pleasure.”
Slogan from the banners carried in the 1919 Paterson silk strike
UC Radio: 2017.06.07
“It is for our little children/That seems to us so dear/But for us nor them, dear workers/The bosses do not care. But understand, all workers/Our union they do fear. Let’s stand together, workers/And have a union here.”
“The Mill Mother’s Lament,” sung by Pete Seeger
UC Radio: 2017.02.06
“I’m on a campaign to make you mine/I’ll picket you until you sign/In one big union for two/No courts and junction can make me stop/Until your love is all closed shop/In one big union for two/Seven days a week I want the right/To call you mine both day and night/The hours may be long/But fifty million union members can’t be wrong”
From the song “One Big Union For Two” in the Broadway musical “Pins & Needles”
UC Radio: 2015.11.26
“Once in khaki suits, gee, we looked swell, full of that yankee doodle de dum; Half a million boots went slogging through Hell and I was the kid with the drum/Say don’t you remember, they called me Al, it was Al all the time/Say don’t you remember, I’m your pal, brother can you spare a dime?”
From the song “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?” written by E. Y. “Yip” Harburg and Jay Gorney.
UC Radio: 2015.05.25
“Hold the fort for we are coming. Union men, be strong! Side by side we battle onward; Victory will come.”
From the song “Hold the Fort,” a Knights of Labor pro-labor revision of the hymn by the same name
UC Radio: 2016.12.26
“Hard work never killed anyone who supervised it.”
Harry C. Bauer
Labor Quotes 