Labor slogans
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This is a list of slogans used by organized labor, or by workers who are attempting to organize.
[edit] Glossary of labor slogans
- The slogan "An injury to one..." has a long history in the union movement. Initially attributed to the Knights of Labor, the expression took the form "an injury to one is the concern of all." At the suggestion of David C. Coates, the Industrial Workers of the World at their founding convention in 1905 adopted a variation of the expression, rendered as "an injury to one is an injury to all."[1]
- The boss needs you, you don't need him is an expression from the Industrial Workers of the World, who envisioned "a world without bosses."
- Bosses beware — when we're screwed, we multiply
- Bread and Roses is an expression, the name of a poem, a song title, and a movie, derived from a picket sign carried by a woman striker in 1911 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, during what came to be called the Bread and Roses strike. The message on the homemade sign was, "We Want Bread, and Roses Too."[2] The slogan calls for dignified working conditions as well as fair wages.
- Direct action gets the goods
- Don't mourn, organize! This expression is the familiar version of the "last words spoken" by Wobbly song-writer Joe Hill before his execution on a murder charge in Utah. In truth, the expression is part of a telegram sent to Bill Haywood, in which Joe wrote, "Goodbye, Bill, I die like a true blue rebel. Don't waste any time mourning. Organize!" It wasn't Joe's last telegram; he sent another in which he implored Haywood, "Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line to be buried? I don't want to be found dead in Utah."[3]
- Dump the Bosses Off your Backs!
- A fair day's wage for a fair day's work The motto of the American Federation of Labor.[4]
- Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."[5] Response of the Industrial Workers of the World to the AFL motto, from the IWW Preamble.
- Kickin' ass for the working class...
- Labor is entitled to all it creates
- The longer the picket line, the shorter the strike
- Look for the Union Label is the slogan of a multimillion dollar advertising campaign launched in 1975 by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE,) urging consumers to purchase union-made clothing.[citation needed]
- Right to work (for less)
- Sit Down and Watch Your Pay Go Up!
- Solidarity forever! is the refrain from a song of the same name written by Ralph Chaplin.[citation needed]
- Unions: the people who brought you weekends
- A victory for one is a victory for all
- Which side are you on? From the song of the same name by Florence Reece, written about a 1931 strike by coal miners in Harlan County, Kentucky.[citation needed]
- Workers of the world, awaken!
- Workingmen, Unite!
[edit] References
- ^ The Autobiography of Big Bill Haywood, 1929, pp. 186 ppbk.
- ^ Solidarity Forever, An Oral History of the IWW, Stewart Bird, Dan Georgakas, Deborah Shaffer, 1985, pp. 57.
- ^ Roughneck: The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, pp. 235.
- ^ A Pictorial History of American Labor, William Cahn, 1972, page 139.
- ^ A Pictorial History of American Labor, William Cahn, 1972, page 203.
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