“Lithuania is a small country, so our contribution would not be that large. We are not afraid of our responsibility. We receive 25 percent of our national budget from the European Union. We understand the value of solidarity.” CountryValuesResponsibilityPercentUnionsBudgetsContributionNot AfraidSolidarityEuropean UnionSmall CountriesLithuania Author:Dalia Grybauskaite
“Private sector unionization is down to practically seven percent. Meanwhile the public sector unions have kind of sustained themselves [even] under attack, but in the last few years, there's been a sharp [increase in the] attack on public sector unions, which Barack Obama has participated in, in fact. When you freeze salaries of federal workers, that's equivalent to taxing public sector people.” PeopleYearsKindFactsLastsPercentIncreaseUnionsSevenWorkersBarackSalaryFreezePrivate SectorPublic Sector Author:Noam Chomsky
“I think in the '50s, the percentage of Americans employed by the private sector who were in unions was above 30 percent. And now it's in the single digits, so it plummeted. And with the plummeting of unions came the weakening of an organized working-class voice in politics.” ThinkingVoiceClassPercentUnionsOrganizedWorking ClassEmployedPercentagesPrivate SectorWeakening Author:George Packer
“When [Bill] Clinton came along, it sort of moderated a little bit, but Clinton had a different device for breaking unions called NAFTA [North America Free Trade Agreement]. Because the government was entirely lawless, employers could exploit NAFTA to threaten union organizers with transfer. It's illegal, but when you've got a lawless government, it doesn't matter if it's illegal. I think the number of union drives blocked increased by about 50 percent.” IfsThinkingLittlesDifferentMatterGovernmentAmericaBitsNumbersLittle BitPercentTradeBillsUnionsClintonAgreementIllegalDevicesEmployersExploitsTransfersNorth AmericaFree TradeBlockedOrganizerTrade AgreementsNafta Author:Noam Chomsky