David Harris, an employee rights activist and attorney based in Toronto, Canada, shares quotes about and from the labour movement.

1. The Way We Work
Quotes From Labour
Leaders Transforming
the World

2. The countries in which union
density rates are higher are also the
ones in which the welfare state is
more developed, taxation levels
higher and more progressive,
collective bargaining more
centralized and labour law both
closer to international labour
standards and better implemented.

3. The gains that union members
make at the bargaining table
spill over into creating healthier
and more prosperous
communities for everyone. Union
members can be good
ambassadors in a campaign for
greater fairness for all Canadians.

4. Unions are about fairness:
workplace fairness; economic
fairness; opportunity
fairness; political fairness;
and democratic fairness.
Unions promote fairness, not
just for their members, but
for all Canadians.

5. No worker is inherently vulnerable.
Workers are made vulnerable by
laws that facilitate relationships of
inequality and laws that fail to
address exploitation. We need to
name both: how that inequality is
constructed and who benefits from
it.

6. Labour rights are human
rights. Unions fought for
strong labour rights. When
labour rights are weakened,
then unions have less
ability to fight for human
rights for all workers

7. Canada's reputation as an
international champion of human
rights falls appallingly short
when it comes to the question of
workers' rights. While we are
among the first nations to sign
international labour conventions,
too often we break them when
they prove inconvenient at home.

8. Strong labour laws and
higher unionization rates
reduce income inequality by
raising wages for all workers
and ensuring more workers
receive a higher proportion
of national income.

9. Strong labour laws and
higher unionization rates
reduce income inequality by
raising wages for all workers
and ensuring more workers
receive a higher proportion
of national income.

10. Recognizing that workers
have the right to bargain
collectively as part of their
freedom to associate
reaffirms the values of
dignity, personal autonomy,
equality and democracy.

11. Legislating workers back to
work instead of letting the
process of collective
bargaining unfold simply
creates bad labour relations
and does not resolve issues
that can only be solved
through negotiation.

12. Labour rights are at the
heart of the fight for human
rights. The freedom to
associate, to organize and to
have equal opportunities in
the workplace – every year
we see these rights under
attack around the world.