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WASHINGTON (AP) – Richard Trumka, the powerful AFL-CIO president who came from the Pennsylvania coal mines to chair one of the world’s largest labor organizations, died Thursday. He was 72 years old.
The federation confirmed Trumka’s death in a statement. He was president of the AFL-CIO since 2009, having served as the organization’s secretary-treasurer for 14 years. From his perch, he oversaw a federation with over 12.5 million members and ushered in a more aggressive leadership style.
“The labor movement, the AFL-CIO and the nation have lost a legend today,” said the AFL-CIO. “Rich Trumka has dedicated his life to workers, from his early days as President of the United Mine Workers of America to his unprecedented leadership as the voice of the American labor movement.
President Joe Biden praised White House Trumka and said the union leader died of a heart attack while on a camping trip with his son and grandchildren. He said he spoke with Trumka’s widow and son earlier today.
“He wasn’t just a great union leader. He was a friend, ”Biden told reporters Thursday. “He was someone I could confide in, and you knew whatever he said he would do, he would.”
A burly man with thick eyebrows and a bushy mustache, Trumka was the son and grandson of coal miners. He was born in 1949 in the small town of Nemacolin, in southwestern Pennsylvania, and worked for seven years in the mines before earning a degree in accounting from Penn State, then a law degree from the University. Villanova.
Trumka was tough and combative, a throwback to an old guard of union leaders from the heyday of the labor movement. But it arose at a markedly different time, as union membership dwindled and workers struggled to retain political power. He often focused on advocating for unions with white blue collar workers who had turned away from Democrats – and spoke to them bluntly.
Trumka met with President Donald Trump on trade and health care issues, but their relationship has remained controversial. He called Trump a “fraud” that had deceived the working class. Trump criticized Trumka for being ineffective. “No wonder unions are losing so much,” Trump tweeted in 2019.
At times, Trumka has challenged blue collar workers to confront their own prejudices, including a strong denunciation of racism within the union ranks during Barack Obama’s first White House campaign.
“We can’t tap into the fact that there are a lot of white people out there… and a lot of them are good union members, they just can’t get past this idea that there is something that’s wrong with voting for a black man, ”he said in an impassioned 2008 speech.
Until his death, he used his power to push for health care legislation, expanded workers’ rights and infrastructure spending.
Trumka was focused on the future, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler said in the form of a $ 1 trillion infrastructure bill that he said would advance the organized work.
“He saw that if we used the breadth and power of the labor movement and trained it on one goal, no one could stop us,” Shuler said.
Larry Cohen, longtime labor activist and former president of the Communications Workers of America, said Trumka’s death was a “devastating” loss to the job, in part because of his long-standing relationship with Biden.
“His ability to speak to the President of the United States will be very difficult to replace. It’s a long story, based on personal trust. It’s remarkable, ”said Cohen, who had known Trumka since the early 1980s.
Trumka burst into national union politics as a 33-year-old lawyer when he became president of the United Mine Workers of America in 1982. Pledging that the struggling union will “rise again”, Trumka beat incumbent Sam Church by 2 to -1 margin and will serve in the role until he became AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer in 1995.
There he led a successful strike against the Pittston Coal Company, which tried to avoid contributing to an industry-wide health and pension fund.
“I would love to retire from this job,” Trumka said in 1987. “If I could write my job description for the rest of my life, that would be it. “
At 43, Trumka led a nationwide strike against Peabody Coal in 1993. During the outing, he sparked controversy.
Asked whether the company is hiring permanent replacement workers, Trumka told The Associated Press, “I’m saying if you hit a match and put your finger on it, you could get burned. Trumka insisted he was not threatening violence against the substitutes. “Do I want this to happen?” Absolutely not. Do I think this can happen? Yes, I think it can happen, ”he said.
As president of the AFL-CIO, he pledged to revive declining union membership and pledged to appeal to the labor movement for a new generation of workers who perceive unions as “just a picture. grainy and faded from another time ”.
“We need unionism that makes sense for the next generation of young women and men who don’t have the money to go to college or who are almost penniless by the time they graduate,” said Trumka told hundreds of enthusiastic delegates in a speech. at the annual congress of the federation in 2009.
That year, he was also one of the main supporters of the healthcare debate for the inclusion of a government-run public insurance option, and he threatened Democrats who opposed it. .
“We have to be a labor movement that supports our friends, punishes their enemies and challenges those who, well, can’t seem to decide which side they’re on,” he said.
During the 2011 debate on trade union rights for public employees in GOP-controlled state houses, Trumka said the angry protests she had sparked were overdue.
Trumka said he hoped Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s bill to strip public servant unions of their bargaining power could renew support for unions after decades of decline. The move drew thousands of protesters to the Capitol in Madison.
Like it or not, Trumka said, Walker has launched a national debate on collective bargaining “which this country sorely needed.”
Memories flooded in from Trumka’s Democratic allies in Washington on Thursday.
“American workers have lost a fierce warrior at a time when we needed him most,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said as he announced Trumka’s death from the Senate.
“Richard Trumka has dedicated his life to the labor movement and the right to organize,” said Chamber Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, perhaps Trumka’s closest ally during Obama’s presidency, remembered Trumka as the “son and grandson of a miner,” who carried this family history in the corridors of power in Washington.
“You know, Rich had a view of the White House from his office,” Perez said, recalling Trumka displaying one of his father’s mining helmets in his office. “His father and grandfather could never have imagined their son and grandson reaching such a high level. But what they would be even more proud of is that he didn’t let it go to their heads. He never forgot his roots.
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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed to this Atlanta report.
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This story has been corrected to show that Nemacolin is in southwestern Pennsylvania, not southeast.
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