Sharan Burrow Quotes

The stark reality facing us today is that without the labour reforms, workers will get neither the income nor jobs in the face of cut-throat global economic competition.

I think there's not much patience for organized labour, period, public or private sector.

I love that we are one of the least unionized states in the country...We don't have unions in South Carolina because we don't need unions in South Carolina...And we'll make the unions understand full well that they are not needed, not wanted, and not welcome.

Well, I'm not trying to get rid of the unions, but I am saying that they appear to be an antiquated concept in today's economy.

After I had been working as a cap maker for three years it began to dawn on me that we girls needed an organization. The men had organized already, and had gained some advantages, but the bosses had lost nothing, as they took it out on us.

I am one of those men who believes that the best workingman ought to have the best pay.

Every non-Marxist economic theory that treats human and non-human productive inputs as interchangeable assumes that the dehumanisation of human labour is complete. But if it could ever be completed, the result would be the end of capitalism as a system capable of creating and distributing value.

Our recent 5-year labour agreements, in Canada as well as the United States, are based upon experience, logic and principle rather than on pressure, propaganda and force.

All that harms labor is treason to America.

We want nothing about what is said about abolishing property rights, rather we respect them. But work is the only property of workers, and therefore we want laws to protect the only property of workers, his manpower

Surely the time was coming when the law, which was the representative of the organized will of the people, would declare that British workers should no longer work for less than they could live upon.

Labour is held to be a mere “commodity,” and if the labourer cannot sell it, he has no “right” but to starve—himself, his wife, and his children... Such are the doctrines of the free-trade school …

The principles of fairness and equality for working men and women are deeply interwoven within the fabric of our nation's history.

We must defend the rights of working people to bargain collectively for fair wages and safe working conditions.

I'm going to lead a revolution for working people in America. This includes all workers: white, black and brown, men and women, gay and straight, urban and rural.

Food service workers, home care workers, farm workers, and other low-wage workers log long hours. They come home tired after providing services and producing goods that make our country stronger. They deserve fair treatment from their employers, and they deserve a voice in collective bargaining.

Those who claim that they need cash because they are unable to pay labourers are those who are not paying minimum wages.

Unions are the result of profit seekers. Unions are the way the average guy gets even with evil corporateers. The unions are godsends. The unions have a special status, because they represent the rising up of the average man against the evil corporateers and profiteers.

Employers will work you longer for less money and under questionable safety conditions because it is their duty to prioritize the bottom line. As individuals, we cannot complain. That's why we need a union to speak for us, certainly when our safety, our health, and our very lives are at stake!

I stand alongside everyone campaigning for better pay and conditions - they are paving the way for a fairer society.

In bonded labour cases, judges would ask me why I had brought those people to the courts who stank. 'You are here precisely for them,' I would respond.

As more and more people demand fair pay, the Government and big corporations are going to have to take notice.

The right to strike is one of the most important safeguards working people have in this country. It's a weapon of last resort that has served throughout history as a bargaining tool which allows unions to push for recognition of ordinary workers' rights to be paid fairly and treated with dignity.

There's not much more of an honour - to work for, and with, working people.

We may be living in a world of disposable electronics, but working people are not disposable commodities.