This conviction brought me, in the summer of 1978, to the Free Trade Unions - formed by a group of courageous and dedicated people who came out in the defense of the workers' rights and dignity.
quote by Lech Walesa
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
It is true that they paid much more attention to the trade unions because the trade unions were after all speaking for the rights and conditions of working men and women in their employment.
quote by Barbara Castle
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Where trade unions are most firmly organized, there are the rights of the people most respected.
quote by Samuel Gompers
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John Howard In Retirement
John Howard in retirement he lives the good life
With Janette one can say his devoted wife
His term as Australian Prime Minister by the voters was brought to an end
But with fame and money he won't go short of a friend
Howard's Government policies did not unite but divide
Their Work Choices did get the Trade Unions offside
But the Government defeated and their Work Choices with them gone
A win for the Workers and the Unions live on
Kevin Ruud who dethroned him may well celebrate
But on him there too is an unseen use by date
By the Australian voters as Prime Minister empowered
But will his fate be that any different to Howard?
The one who divided and could not unite
He failed when he took on the Trade Union's might.
poem by Francis Duggan
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As I, as a worker, came to know them, the aims of German trade unions were political, and there were a number of various trade unions with varied political views.
quote by Fritz Sauckel
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The trade unions and the Labour Party... failed miserably. Instead of giving concrete support, and calling upon workers to take industrial action, they did nothing.
quote by Arthur Scargill
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Teacher unions are an interest group that acts in defense of their own interests, which means the union bosses' interests, not the members.
quote by Peter Brimelow
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On The Flag Of The Southern Cross
On the flagpost in the freshening winds the flag of the Southern Cross
That brave workers once fought under does flap and wave and toss
In Ballarat in Australia where history was made
For their rights brave men died fighting at the Eureka Stockade
The Southern Cross above where they fought in the southern winds did blow
There history was created one hundred and fifty four years ago
The happening at Ballarat became known of Worldwide
Some of the miners who fought the Government troops were badly injured and some even died
For workers rights in Ballarat the price in human blood was paid
For the rights of a fair go it did not seem a fair trade
Each time I see the flag of the Southern Cross Ballarat comes to mind
The miners there who fought for workers rights were of the bravest kind
That great flag has a history for historians to recall
It surely stands for workers rights and a fair go for all.
poem by Francis Duggan
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The unions claim the deck is stacked against them when it comes to labor laws, but the truth is many private and public sector workers are forced to pay union dues as a condition of their employment, yet they have little say in how the unions spend their money.
quote by Linda Chavez
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Dont You Think It's Time?
children have rights,
women have rights.
lovers have rights.
people of all religions,
and even atheists have rights.
people of all colors,
speaking every language have rights.
trees and rivers have rights.
cats and dogs have rights.
cattle have rights,
homeless people have rights.
prisoners have rights.
democrats and republicans have rights,
even socialists have rights.
the jobless have rights,
old people have rights...
and the hungry have
the right to be fed!
damnit! dont you think it's time?
poem by Eric Cockrell
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I Am... (I Am Not...)
i am the unions.
miners, teachers, steel workers,
nurses, factory workers,
standing strong and united,
demanding human decency,
fair wages and benefits.
i am not communism.
i am the common man and woman,
saying prayers with their hands
as they work;
driven by the faith in family,
teaching respect, gentleness,
and firm convictions
to their children.
i am not the elite.
i am the bruised, scarred human being.
i have fallen time and again.
i have built great dreams
that time has destroyed.
but i know what i believe,
and who i am.
i am not religious.
i am the multi-colored neighborhood.
different faiths, different languages,
the same needs and desires.
i am open conversation and acceptance.
i am not prejudice.
i am the day of revolution.
i am oppression cast off,
ignorance exposed;
i am equality, dignity,
and basic human rights.
i am not 'i, me, mine'.
i am the human condition...
evolving, changing, molded by fire,
i am the river that finds
it's way home...
i am not the end of time!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Men don't and can't live by exchanging articles, but by producing them. They don't live by trade, but by work. Give up that foolish and vain title of Trades Unions; and take that of laborers Unions.
quote by John Ruskin
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The defense of our rights and our dignity, as well as efforts never to let ourselves to be overcome by the feeling of hatred - this is the road we have chosen.
quote by Lech Walesa
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Let my country be free
Let my country be free:
Free from poverty,
Free from inequality,
Free from debt,
Free from Unfair trade,
free from mal nutrition.
Free from scams,
Free from red tape,
Free from scandals,
Free from unfair elections,
Free from whole corruption.
Free from hatred,
Free from terror act,
Free from casteism,
Free from regionalism,
Free from class reservation.
Free from dirty politics.
Protection of human rights,
Equality in health and education,
Better law and order situation.
Governments’ accountability to citizen.
I want to see my country free, truly free.
(C) S.D. Tiwari
poem by S.D. Tiwari
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You want to shut up every Negro who has the courage to stand up and fight for the rights of his people, for the rights of workers, and I have been on many a picket line for the steelworkers too.
quote by Paul Robeson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Nobody Gives
Sung by the tramp
I cant understand why everybodys quarreling,
Nobody gives in case they lose face,
And everybodys guilty and everybodys innocent,
And the fact of it is nobody gives any more.
Its the same throughout all history,
Nobody gives unless they receive,
And nobody trusts or is willing to believe
And nobody gives or is willing to concede.
Back in nineteen hundred and twenty-five
There were thousands of people struggling to survive.
There was hunger, unemployment and poverty,
Then in 1926 they decided to be free
So they all went on strike and
The workers told the unions, who blamed it on the government,
The politicians blamed it on the strikers and the militants,
Everybodys guilty and everybodys innocent,
But the fact of it is nobody gives any more.
Back in nineteen hundred and thirty-nine
There were scores of german military waiting in a line,
And the fatherland wanted what the world wouldnt give,
And then hitler decided he could take what was his,
So they all went to war and said
Kill all the left-wing intellectuals,
Annihilate the jews and wipe out their race,
Eliminate the weak because theyre ineffectual,
And the fact of it is nobody gives any more.
Im only sitting here watching it all go on
And listening to both sides.
Yeah, why cant we talk it out,
Why cant we sort it out,
Well work it out if we try.
Why cant we sit down and work out a compromise,
Why not negotiate and try to be civilised?
Ill tell you why, because nobody gives a damn.
Nobody listens and no one will understand.
Yet Im wondering, sitting here wondering,
And listening to both sides.
Why cant we work it out?
Why cant we sort it out?
Well work it out if we try.
Why cant we sit down and work out a compromise,
Why not negotiate and try to be civilised?
Ill tell you why, because nobody gives a damn.
Nobody listens and no one will understand.
Yet, Im wondering, sitting here wondering,
Yet Im wondering, sitting here wondering
Listening to both sides.
Nobody gives, nobody gives, nobody gives.
The workers told the unions who blamed it on the government,
The politicians blamed it on the strikers and the militants,
Everybodys guilty and everybodys innocent.
Nobody gives. nobody gives a damn any more.
The politicians, unions, workers and the militants,
The fact of it is nobody gives any more.
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The rights of democracy are not reserved for a select group within society, they are the rights of all the people.
quote by Olof Palme
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Instead of trade policy that is beneficial to American businesses and workers as well as our trade partners, we have a flawed trade policy that hurts all parties.
quote by Stephen F. Lynch
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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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.
quote by Lech Walesa
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Be Strong And Courageous
Be Strong and Courageous
by Michael W. Smith & Deborah D. Smith
on Project (1982)
My servant, now your time has come
You have have a job to do
I have a people to be led
And a willing heart in you
So I give you strength and courage
And I'll hide you in my hand
For Joshua, you gotta live for your call
Take my people to their land
Chorus:
So be strong and courageous
So be strong and courageous
You know you gotta be strong and courageous
So be strong and courageous
Never should you feel my call
Just listen and obey
Discouragement need never fall
Stand on the words I say
You know I led your fathers here
And you know I'll lead you too
Inscribe my law into your soul
And nothing will touch you
Chorus
Repeat Chorus
song performed by by Michael W. Smith
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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American Flag
i've had mixed feelings
about the American flag
ever since they lowered it
for President Kennedy...
it took a beating during
the civil rights movement.
and then there was Vietnam,
all the atrocities, the lies,
the wasted deaths...
the marches, the protests,
the Kent State killings...
and the flag was burned
in anger, and i understood
the anger
and now the corporate takeover,
the loss of human rights,
the loss of dignity, and hope
how many deaths does it take?
JFK, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King
forty thousand plus in Vietnam
how many in the lying oil wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan?
how many homeless and jobless
does it take?
how many migrant workers treated
like animals?
how many old people have to lose
the benefits they've worked for?
and i think back to my old hero,
Thomas Jefferson what would he say?
maybe something like this:
'the real American flag isnt made of cloth,
it's drawn on the backs of the American workers.
male and female of all races and religions,
the people that built this country
the heart blood of this country.
when you put these people down
with your greed, your lies, your apathy
then you lower the flag.
and it can never be raised again
till all Americans walk heads up together
with hope till all have an equal opportunity
to live and be in freedom
until such day you have no flag! '
poem by Eric Cockrell
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