John Sweeney Quotes (52 Quotes)

Working people are not just fed up -- they are ready to get active to set our country in a different direction, one state at a time.

We all hope. We all love. We all dream. We all worship. We all work. We all have rights.

McDonald's cannot afford to alienate millions and millions of working people in this country. But believe me that is the road we are headed down.

Eight years of Clinton-Gore haven't been enough to repair the damage of 12 years of Reagan and Bush. Al Gore is running for president as the champion of working families and unions.

Why should a company like Wal-Mart -- who made 10 billion last year alone -- be able to force taxpayers to foot the bill for their health-care costs

People actually get sponsors based on the merits of the Cup, not on the merits of the sailors.

A long-term strategic grass-roots campaign will follow in each state in the coming weeks and months.

This was a hard fought game on both sides. Jacobs showed great composure tonight the way he moved in and hit the ball with his head.

Working people are under the worst attack in 80 years. Never has there been a stronger need for a stronger union movement.

I have a very understanding wife, and she understands this is part of the job.

We have put aside our anger and disappointment and we are doing everything in our power to get back together.

It may be that he's so inundated with things that he needs someone who can structure, control and manage it.

The budget also proposes bringing the total annual state spending on education to nearly 17 billion, or 72 percent higher than when (Pataki) took office. As a result, today New Yorkers spend more than 12,000 per pupil to support public education - virtually the highest amount in the nation.

It's not these locals' fault that their national unions left the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and it's not working people's fault. They shouldn't have to bear the brunt of a decision by their leadership. Solidarity charters will allow unions to work together and let working people still benefit from a united grass-roots movement.

This is a result of federal clarifications regarding Medicaid's reimbursement of providers for emergency services to illegal aliens.

Employers are all too eager to exploit workers. This is no time to make that easier. What a double tragedy it would be to allow the destruction of Hurricane Katrina to depress living standards even further. Taking advantage of a national tragedy to get rid of a protection for workers the corporate backers of the White House have long wanted to remove is nothing less than profiteering.

I've been hearing more workers -- including former Enron workers -- say they now wish they'd had a union.

Maryland's working families have sent a clear message to local governments across the country and corporate America by demanding health care fairness -- and winning.

Working families need and deserve Supreme Court justices who understand and respect the importance of hard-fought rights and protections, not justices who take an unduly narrow view of the law.

Wages are flat or falling. Health care costs for families with employer coverage shot up 79 percent from 1996 to 2003. Imagine the hit on families struggling to make it without job-based coverage.

The bottom line is that our health care system is broken, but it didn't just split open. Big companies like Wal-Mart are pulling it apart and profiting at taxpayers' expense.

Our task is not to make societies safe for globalization, but to make the global system safe for decent societies.

There is such a thing as offensive momentum. Goals you do get tend to come in bunches because you have a rhythm.

A record 53 percent of nonunion workers say they'd join a union tomorrow if given the chance - that's the highest percentage in 20 years. It is our job to reach out to them.

From the suites of Davos to the streets of Seattle, there is a growing consensus that globalization must now be reshaped to reflect values broader than simply the freedom of capital.

The AFL-CIO needs a strong and united Teamsters union, and it needs the involvement of Jim Hoffa. I look forward to sitting down with him at his first opportunity.

Over the last several years, we've been able to find positions for all our graduates. Anyone who wanted a position got one, more or less.

The 37.5-hour week is more of a minimum baseline these days. There is an expectation by many employers that you will give 5 to 10 percent above that to get the job done and to get ahead.

We cannot afford to stand by and wait for the federal government to take action. So we're going to take it on state by state.

Politics is politics. We will expect a spirited campaign. I've had pretty solid majorities in this district.

Bush reversed his decision after a public outcry and bipartisan opposition to his worker pay cut in the House and Senate.

After World War II, American leaders were, in Dean Acheson's words, 'present at the creation' of a global order. Now at the end of the cold war, we desperately need that same vision, that leadership, that creativity to be applied to the governance of the global marketplace.

The Bush administration staunchly opposed legislation which would preserve overtime pay for all workers.

A lot of people are talking, saying the sophomore class is the one that is going to get us back to where we were. But hard work is the only thing that is going to get us there. ... Our talent alone isn't going to get us very far.

There's more emphasis on what the person has achieved than there is on observing what time they're in in the morning or leaving at night.

We will be working together at the UNI conference. Every single union, whether in the AFL-CIO or outside, should be heavily focused on organizing.

I know the guys are excited. We have talked for a long time about putting this program among the elite in Onslow County. I'm not saying that this win seals it, but it's important to be able to play with (Swansboro).

The facts are clear. More funding goes to health care than any other part of the state's budget, and it is sad that the special interests would either ask taxpayers to pay higher taxes or that they would ask our education system or transportation system to receive less.

American workers, ... fervently support rights to protect economic security, equal opportunity and reasonable working conditions but they see real gaps.

There's a mean spirit behind some of these initiatives that are going on, and ergonomics is a classic example. This has never been done with occupational safety and health.

We're opposed to permanent normal trade relations at this time. We support trade. We support the fact that globalization is here to stay, but we want to make sure it's working for working families.

If we have a completely different design that's different from anything else, we have a great opportunity to do well. So that's the key.

We've decided it's time for us to take a stand.

We will look to the lessons of the Maryland victory as we move forward with out 'Fair Share Health Care' initiative.

We have serious constitutional concerns about how the legislature drafted this portion of their budget. And I would not venture to speculate on whether the governor will veto this item.

We had several good opportunities on goal in the second half. We played well tonight, but we see where we need to improve.

A core part of the global market is what might be called the 'Nike Economy' - footloose companies that play countries against one another while seeking subcontractors with the lowest wages and cheapest conditions.

Guest worker programs are a bad idea and harm all workers. They cast workers into a perennial second-class status, and ... encourage employers to turn good jobs into temporary jobs at reduced wages and diminished working conditions.

We depend a lot on the guy upstairs in dire times, in addressing our concerns and looking for help.

Compared to 10 years ago, individuals are now expected to live, on average, two years longer, and health care and other expenses have grown. ... We believe that we're assisting individual investors ... by reducing the possibility that Americans will outlive their hard-earned retirement savings.