WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Unions a Civil rights issue

"Dr. King lost his life struggling to help sanitation workers – public sector employees – achieve their goals for a dignified existence as workers. We think that's an extraordinary backdrop in which to frame the debate over what's taking place in the country today." -- Wade Henderson, president of the NAACP Leadership Conference.

Power shift

"This is a fight for workers, this is a fight for the middle class, this is a fight to try to stave off the shift in power and wealth that is starting to become gross." -- Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Obama keeps his distance

Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, the nation's largest nurses union, called Obama "largely a bystander" in the debate over collective bargaining. "I think we're feeling a sense of betrayal from him and not liking it much," she said. -- Huffington

Destroit

"Bobb has set off a vicious cycle undermining even good schools." NYT's Michael Winerip Detroit -- Hope for the Hopeless