Labor’s New Leader

[Omaha Steve]

http://inthesetimes.com/article/5017/labors_new_leader

The AFL-CIO stakes its future on Richard Trumka.
By David Moberg

Richard Trumka—coal miner, lawyer and new president of the AFL-CIO—took the stage after his election at the federation’s Pittsburgh convention in mid-September to the strains of the defiant Tom Petty refrain, “I’m going to stand my ground, and I won’t back down.” Clearly, Trumka wanted to convey a new style of labor leadership, one tougher and more militant than that of the genial outgoing president John Sweeney.

But he also signaled that labor unions need new ideas. “The American labor movement can turn our country around–and together that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Trumka told the convention. “But to do it, we need a new kind of labor movement–one shaped to meet the needs of Americans in a changing economy.

At a moment of great but imperiled political opportunity and continuing economic challenges, unions need to flex their muscles and their minds, and supporters see Trumka as well-suited for the job—an articulate, forceful speaker with a personal history of both union reform and labor militancy.

“What you have now is a situation where Rich Trumka is tailor-made for conditions we see in the labor movement and for working people nationwide,” says American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten. “You have erosion of the middle class and corporate interests dominating the economic debate, effectively marginalizing everyone who fights them. Rich Trumka is about being fearless…but at the same time building bridges and listening.”

If Trumka is going to build a new labor movement, as he promises, he will need to go beyond the defensive tone of the Petty song—a tone that is characteristic of a long beleaguered labor movement. He will need an aggressive strategy of organizing, coalition-building and political action.

Trumka is likely to build upon the reform trajectory of the Sweeney administration, in which he was secretary-treasurer. After an energetic start in 1995, many observers think reform momentum has slackened in recent years.

FULL story at link.

[lxlxlxl]

1. +1 for trumka...needs more visibility here

surprisingly the first time i saw a media outlet give richard airtime was the bbc on a program called hardtalk. i was really impressed by him on that show, and thought he stood his ground really well.

he

trumka's lack of visibility on american media is a goddamn problem, and is one of those glaring examples of the american press's indebtedness to corporatism.

[Chulanowa]

2. Go Trumka

What I've seen of the guy is that he's a strong voice and a fine verbal asskicker.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

3. K N R! n/t