'We Lost A Giant': Labor Leader Remembered For Work To Advance Workers' Rights, Economic Justice
Longtime head of the AFL-CIO dead at 72
Richard Trumka, the longtime head of the nation's largest labor federation and a force for workers' rights and economic justice, died of an apparent heart attack Thursday at the age of 72.
A former mine worker who went to law school and rose to first head the United Mine Workers and, for the past 12 years, the sprawling AFL-CIO, Trumka became a trusted adviser to union members and US presidents alike.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rose on the Senate floor to pay tribute to Trumka.
“The working people of America have lost a fierce warrior at a time when we needed him the most,” Schumer said. “Just yesterday, he was lending his support to the striking miners.”
Schumer traced Trumka's life story, from following in his father's footsteps to work in mines, and later earned his law degree from Penn State.
“He didn't practice, didn't go to some fancy place [but] went right to work for the United Mine Workers, which he led for do many years. … He had, in his veins and every atom of his body, the heart, the thoughts, the needs of the working people of America. He was them. Rich Trumka was the working people of America.”
Diversifying and expanding the labor movement was important to Trumka, as was the political issue of immigration reform “because they were working people, too — no matter where they came from, or what they looked like.”
Schumer was clearly consumed with grief, as he spoke from his lectern.
“I wanted to inform my colleagues that we lost a giant,” he said.
The impact of Trumka's life and death isn't limited to the labor movement, or its allies in the Democratic Party.
Other progressive organizations also remembered Trumka.
“We all send our condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Trumka spent his life fighting to advance the causes of workers' rights and economic justice which are so important to making our nation stable,” said Morris Pearl, former managing director at Blackrock, Inc., and Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, an organization of wealthy Americans concerned with income inequality. “From fighting for fair wages for workers, to protecting the rights of workers to unionize, President Trumka was on the frontlines of the battle for equity for all workers.
“Trumka’s leadership in the labor and economic justice movement is deeply heartening,” Pearl added. “We all should honor Trumka’s legacy and commit to continuing to use our voices to ensure workers rights and economic justice are realized across the country.”
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