President Trumka on Infrastructure Week | Officer Messages | AFL-CIO Video

Richard Trumka: 2017 USW Convention

President Trumka Testifies on Transportation and Infrastructure | Infras...

President Trumka Speaks on Immigration Reform | Immigration | AFL-CIO Video

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile:



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Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the two African-American men who were shot by police within twenty-four hours of each other.

Racism plays an insidious role in the daily lives of all working people of color. This is a labor issue because it is a workplace issue; it is a community issue, and unions are the community. Philando Castile was a union member, and so his family is our family. Last year the AFL-CIO launched a Commission on Racial and Economic Justice to address the issues faced by our brothers and sisters of color and to take a hard look at ourselves to ensure we practice what we preach. The Commission aimed to educate working people on the way racism weakens the collective power of all working people.

It is haunting that only two years ago I delivered a speech in St. Louis in the aftermath of Mike Brown’s death denouncing systemic racism in the United States. Since then, hundreds of people have lost their lives in incidents involving police officers, and African-Americans continue to be disproportionately impacted. Labor cannot and will not sit on the sidelines when it comes to racial justice. It is not enough to simply say “Black Lives Matter.” We must and will continue to fight for reforms in policing and to address issues of racial and economic inequality.

Contact:  Charity Jackson (202) 637-5018

Trumka Statement on the Senate 'Fiscal Cliff' Agreement

Trumka Statement on the Senate 'Fiscal Cliff' Agreement

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house did pass just moments ago

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 The agreement passed by the Senate last night is a breakthrough in beginning to restore tax fairness and achieves some key goals of working families.  It does not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. It raises more than $700 billion over 10 years, including interest savings, by ending the Bush income tax cuts for families making more than $450,000 a year. And in recognition of the continuing jobs crisis, it extends unemployment benefits for a year.  A strong message from voters and a relentless echo from grassroots activists over the last six weeks helped get us this far.

But lawmakers should have listened even better.  The deal extends the Bush tax cuts for families earning between $250,000 and $450,000 a year and makes permanent Bush estate tax cuts exempting estates valued up to $5 million from any tax. These concessions amount to over $200 billion in additional tax cuts for the 2%.

And because of Republican hostage taking, the deal simply postpones the $1.2 trillion sequester for only two months and does not address the debt ceiling, setting the stage for more fiscal blackmail at the expense of the middle class.

Instead of moving to address our nation’s real jobs and public investment crisis, our leaders will be debating a prolonged artificial fiscal crisis.  In the weeks to come, as the confrontation over the economic direction of our country continues, the working men and women of the AFL-CIO will continue to fight to keep poor and middle class families from giving more so rich people can continue paying less.  That means a fairer, more progressive tax system, an end to Bush tax rates for the 2% and protection of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from benefit cuts

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far as I am concerned, dems could have made far better deal.   really think if gop won big they would have done anything  remotely bipartisan?

bipartisanship is a myth and except for war and some resolutions, rare historically speaking.

Obama Meeting With Progressives & CEOs

---------- soar 11-3 supports Richard Trumka on this issue.

Labor leaders reaffirm tax position with Obama

Labor leaders reaffirm tax position with Obama:

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 "We are very, very committed so that the middle class and workers don't end up paying the tab for a party we didn't get to go to, and the president is committed to that as well," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Participants in the meeting also voiced their fierce opposition to raising the eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security, he said.

The hour-long meeting included officials from the activist group MoveOn.org, the union AFSCME, the woman's group AAUW and the liberal think-tank Center for American Progress. All were active in Obama's re-election effort, and Obama could call on them for help as he makes his case to the American people for his "balanced" approach to cutting the country's yawning deficit problem.

"We won the election, but we're going into another campaign now," AFSCME President Lee Saunders said after the meeting.

Obama is scheduled to meet with 12 business executives Wednesday and is likely to meet with congressional leaders from both parties Friday to discuss the looming fiscal crisis.

----- yes, some of are ready for new campaign. cut medicare, soocial security; democrats lose much of their base. that I can gurantee

Fiscal Cliff: Richard Trumka, Head Of AFL-CIO, Calls Out 'Manufactured Crisis'

Fiscal Cliff: Richard Trumka, Head Of AFL-CIO, Calls Out 'Manufactured Crisis':

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 WASHINGTON -- Digging in for the looming battle over deficit-reduction, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will make organized labor's case Thursday against cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, declaring the doomsday debt talk in Washington a "manufactured crisis."

"There is no fiscal cliff," Trumka says in prepared remarks to the National Mediation Board Conference in Washington on Thursday. "What we’re facing is an obstacle course within a manufactured crisis that was hastily thrown together in response to inflated rhetoric about our federal deficit."

Democrats and Republicans are headed to the bargaining table to address the so-called fiscal cliff that Trumka alludes to -- the point after the New Year when painful automatic cuts hit the federal budget, unless legislators can find other ways to reduce the $16 trillion debt. Negotiations last year indicated that Democrats are open to cutting social programs that liberals have long considered sacrosanct, as well as trimming programs that aid the poor and elderly.

President Barack Obama met with labor leaders, including Trumka, on Tuesday, assuring them he was committed to letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire. But organized labor is just as concerned about social insurance programs. The failed "grand bargain" nearly struck by Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) last year reportedly included cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

Trumka told HuffPost last week that the AFL-CIO, a federation of unions representing 11 million workers, will not support any deal including such cuts. "The voters yesterday rejected that notion soundly," he said the morning after the election. "The answer is, if it includes benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, we'll oppose it."

The Great Wall of Mart - Clip from Death by China Documentary Richard Trumka

Trumka: Walker Did Not Lead in Wisconsin, He Followed ALEC Agenda Right After 2010 Election

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: 2012 CWA Legislative-Political Conference

Trumka Says Strengthen Social Security July 29, 2010

Richard Trumka on PBS this evening: Bill Moyers

Might wish to watch PBS this evening on Bill Moyers:

Friday, January 29, 8:00pm
AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka.

This will repeat varied times Sunday in St. Louis

from AFL blog:


Bill Moyers interviews AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka tonight on PBS.



AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is tonight’s featured guest on “Bill Moyers Journal” on PBS. In an in-depth 30-minute interview, Trumka will outline steps to restore the nation’s economy, create jobs and rebuild the middle class.

He will talk about the AFL-CIO’s role in creating a broad movement of Americans to demand jobs and an economy that works for families on Main Street and why bankers and brokers on Wall Street must be held accountable with strong new financial reform rules.

Trumka will discuss why health care reform must pass and what it must include. He will explain why it’s time to restore the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain for a better life.
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http://blog.aflcio.org/

Trumka speaks on Jobs after state of the union 2010

Richard has a point. Worth watching and yes, he was in attendance at the State of the Union address in 2010.

AFL-CIO called folks to request they watch this vid yesterday:
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National Press club: Richard Trumka Jan 2010

These are the remarks from AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka this last monday. Somewhat long, but important to folks following issues.

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Rachel Maddows and Richard Trumka

Interesting vids on Msnbc, healthcare topics. PBS and MSNBC doing fine job of covering the mess. CNN--so, so and Fox? :

1 Aug. 18: Republicans oppose single-payer, public option, and co-op insurance options in the healthcare reform bill, so what do they actually support? After an enlightening TRMS skit on ordering dinner, Rachel Maddow is joined by Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO.
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Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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