Union Role Quotes

Teachers' unions don't act in the interest of most teachers.

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.

I believe that the teachers unions are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. They were designed to be professional organizations that protect the rights and privileges and pay of their members. The problem is that we don't have an organized national interest group with the same heft as the teachers union that's advocating on behalf of children.

Unions do have a proper role in negotiating for employees and advising employees, but they have to engage with the employer.

Unions should not be lapdogs to a political party, they should be watchdogs for their members' interests.

The unions still have a job to do, representing their members' interests to governments and parliaments. And I think collective agreements still have a role, alongside markets and laws.

The question is always 'What is the role of a labor movement?' How much is about collective bargaining, how much is about social change for all workers?

I've written that there are some workplaces where the best thing you could have for achieving the best terms and conditions of employment will be a labor union. They play an important role.

Labor unions must have conflict in order to justify their existence.

The important role of union organizations must be admitted: their object is the representation of the various categories of workers, their lawful collaboration in the economic advance of society, and the development of the sense of their responsibility for the realization of the common good.

Unions can play a valuable role in large organisations where it is difficult to talk to a thousand people. They can negotiate annual pay awards with management, represent grievance cases, and explain and advise on complicated changes in employment or pension law.

I respect unions, I think they have an important role to pay and I listen to them, we meet with them, and they raise valid points on a lot of issues like worker safety and so forth, but I also respect the right of individual workers to decide whether they want to pay that fee and whether they want to join a union.