May Day 2010
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Photograph © AP/Frank Franklin II.
And while we are on the topic of May Day ... There are a couple of reasons to call attention to Rich Trumka. He is now President of the AFL-CIO, but before that he was leader of the United Mine Workers. It has been a bad year for miners. And it is only May.
Beyond that, I think Trumka is an extremely admirable man. A couple of years back, he gave what may well be the most remarkable speech on race in American politics since Martin Luther King, Jr.; like King, Trumka links the defense of minority rights to the struggle of labor in America. And he speaks frankly. This picture of Trumka is from a union sponsored rally this past week on Wall Street.
2 Comments:
Trumka is a good leader. Unfortunately the Wall Street demonstration was mostly cathartic, an opportunity to blow a little steam. I hope I'm wrong, but there doesn't seem to be any plan for organized labor to build a more powerful movement other than to continue to write checks to the Democratic party. The last 40 years have shown what a viable strategy that's turned out to be.
- peace
I could not agree more. Labor supports the Democrats and they turn around and screw the unions. Again and again and again. My advice: Organize and then start to strike in ways that shut things down.~ JJ
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