What until then seemed impossible to achieve has become a fact of life. We have won the right to association in trade unions independent from the authorities, founded and shaped by the working people themselves.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Working people are under the worst attack in 80 years. Never has there been a stronger need for a stronger union movement.
People have to be reminded that unions played a very historic role in our economy.
Where trade unions are most firmly organized, there are the rights of the people most respected.
Starting that union was something I believed in very strongly.
This led me to understand that trade unionism, the instrument of working-class liberation and of social change could, and indeed should, be also an instrument of industrial progress.
Unions go hand-in-hand with a strong middle class.
Now workers should have the right to join unions. But unions should not be forced upon workers. And unions should not have the power to take money our of their members' paychecks to buy the support of politicians that are favored by the union bosses.
And the success of the union movement, historically, has always been to benefit all working men and women - not just people who belong to the union.
The reality is that no one can be forced to join a union against their will, and a union cannot take action against those who decide not to join their union.
This is the crux of the problem: because the Republicans and the right wing have been successful in almost eliminating unions, everyone else has suffered as a result.