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How appropriate Michael Moore premiered "Capitalism: A Love Story" in Pittsburgh this week, to coincide with our 26th AFL-CIO Convention. Moore, in an action spearheaded by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), marched with AFL-CIO delegates to the movie theater, and afterward, encouraged all of us to sponsor it in theaters throughout the country, because, as he says at the end of the film, he needs help to spark the populist revolution.
He’ll have a great partner with the new leadership of the AFL-CIO. Late yesterday, delegates elected Richard Trumka president, Liz Shuler, secretary-treasurer, and re-elected Arlene Holt Baker executive vice president. The team is a mini-revolution in itself: It’s the first time the top leadership of the AFL-CIO includes two women, and Shuler, 39, is the youngest-ever unionist ever to hold so high a position in the labor movement.
But the revolution won’t stop there. Trumka, who in recent weeks has previewed the dynamic style he will bring as leader of the labor movement, has long fought against the corporate greed that Moore illustrated in his latest documentary. Trumka is not afraid of a fight: In 1989, when Pittson Coal Co. tried to avoid paying into an industry-wide health and pension fund, Trumka as president of the Mine Workers (UMWA), led one of the most successful strikes in recent American history, taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court.
Trumka combines working-class roots as a Pennsylvania coal miner with the education of a lawyer from Villanova University—and ties it all together with guts, determination and a commitment to social justice that takes on Wall Street greed and waffling Democratic politicians with zeal.
As Trumka said last week at the Center for America Progress:
More than ever, we need to be a labor movement that stands by our friends, punishes its enemies and challenges those who, well, can’t seem to decide which side they’re on. I’m talking about the politicians who always want us to turn out our members to vote for them, but who somehow always seem to forget workers after the votes are counted.
Our convention in Pittsburgh (Sept. 13-17) coincided with the teabagger protest, offering an illustrative contrast between the values of the 21st century progressive labor movement and the reactionary 18th century wanabees. As Art Levine writes in In These Times:
This weekend, tens of thousands angry "Tea Party" protesters (not two million, the figure right-wing bloviators have concocted) denounced the "socialism" of the Obama administration and the President’s healthcare plan.
Some, but hardly all, of the protesters—fueled by Fox News disinformation and mobilized in part by corporate front groups—displayed even uglier invective against Obama, calling him a terrorist and likening him to Hitler.
Yet on Sunday, a different vision of America was unveiled: the AFL-CIO started its convention in Pittsburgh with the goal of creating an economy and government that works for everyone. The contrast with the protest in Washington couldn’t have been more stark.
The AFL-CIO Convention also offered a pointed contrast with the teabaggers in another way: Some 43 percent of national union delegates were women, people of color and LGBT. Such diverse participation didn’t just happen by accident.
In 2005, AFL-CIO delegates passed a resolution requiring affiliated unions send delegates to the 2009 Convention that represented their membership—and we made sure it did. Time and again throughout the convention and in the standing room-only AFL-CIO Diversity Conference that preceded it, union delegates praised the leadership of retiring President John Sweeney for his commitment to ensuring that the union movement’s leaders—from those at the grassroots to the national levels—reflected the workers they represent. And as Holt Baker said more than once, she became the first African American in a top AFL-CIO leadership position because of Sweeney’s commitment to diversity.
Trumka will carry on that mantle. At the AFL-CIO Diversity Conference, he stated:
As a matter of policy, as a matter of principle, we’ll make our movement more inclusive, more welcoming, more like the workers we represent, more like the democratic movement that we are. You have my promise.
The Trumka team also will augment that outreach by focusing on young people, recognizing that we must reach the next generation to carry on the fight for workers’ rights long after we’re gone. Because as Trumka said in his keynote at Netroots Nation last month, where many of you got a first glimpse of the fiery Trumka:
Unions are more critical today than ever in our history. In this uncertain economy, after years of stagnant real earnings, unions are the best hope for this younger generation to gain the standard of living their parents and grandparents enjoy. For 200 years unions have served to counterbalance wealth and privilege in this county and to help raise standards for workers to improve their jobs.
In his acceptance speech yesterday, Trumka outlined the powerful labor movement he intends to shape:
What kind of labor movement do we need? A younger labor movement. A greener labor movement. A labor movement that can project its power—to defend workers anywhere in the world. A labor movement that’s organizing the unorganized. A labor movement that’s winning health care for every family—and, yes, a labor movement that stands by its friends, punishes its enemies, and challenges those who can’t decide whose side they’re on.
The AFL-CIO Convention ended today. But under our new leadership the momentum—dare we hope, the revolution?—is just beginning.
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teh COOL
It’s hard not to like Trumka
To follow him on twitter
and how to follow you, Tula?
There has always been something about union leaders who come out of the UMW.
Thanks for this.
John Boehner is currently on the Newshour celebrating the wave of populism across the country against government (caretaking corportism). He pronounced that America already had the best health care in the world, And the interviewer did not bother to call him on that jingoistic assertion. He praised the activism of the citizenry and minimized the intensity and ugliness of the rhetoric of the right. Spoke of his visits to the “tea parties”. God, the Repubs are masters of in your face, crazymaking vocab.
So the enablers of corporate rape in America like Boehner are now on the media accusing the Dems of raping a wounded America pretending they the perpetrators are the rescuers.
As the Dem government takes notes on their insulting crazymaking rationale and tries to AVOID occasions for attacks, i.e., reducing legitimate government caretaking of citizens. So it is win/win on both sides of the aisle for corporations. Lose/lose for the citizenry.
We need moral leadership, not gamesmanship. The secret of winning is not in playing the game with these bottom feeders. Doing the right thing, not trying to shut em up by treading so fearfully. Appeasing them gives them power. look at the moral goals, Obama, take your eyes off of them and your polls on re-election.
More than ever before we need to unite with labor and demand that the government we wrestled away from the wingnuts of the past years under SHRUB do our bidding. The Blue Dogs need to know that they will NOT be supported in the next election unless they support us now. Labor has the money and the voting block and we are the “boots on the ground.” “Screw us over and you go back to being a private citizen.” That has to be our united message.
unions – good for america
Next thing you know Trumka & CO will be labeled a homegrown terrorists and disappeared
( I have more to say.)
ANd, I don’t feel bad if a “birther” takes the place of someone in office as a “Blue Dog.” At least the “birther” isn’t a two faced wingnut in the pocket of big business and taking advantage of the system. We’ll deal with the wingnut later after the “Blue Dogs” are let out.
“Who let the (Blue) dogs out?”
“We did!!
“Unions are more critical today than ever in our history. In this uncertain economy, after years of stagnant real earnings, unions are the best hope for this younger generation to gain the standard of living their parents and grandparents enjoy.”
This is so true; just imagine if all those involved in IT were unionized !! Especially since the corporations keep going to the legislatures to get ‘professionals’ redefined so they don’t have to pay OT or worry about lunch or rest breaks.
What Elliot said.
And Trumka gives me…hope. And he fights. Hard. To win. And he looks like Lech Walenska.
Of course it’s the best in the world. Rich assholes like Dick Cheney can afford purely elective procedures without difficulty…what’s not to like about that?
what about the ‘non-elected procedures?’ ;)
Good news Tula, thanks!
this is awesome. i’ll never forget seeing the speech Trumka gave about Obama and racism. here’s hoping he gets screen time.
And I interpret ‘project its power’ in a positive, life-enhancing sense, like sun after a very long winter.
Heartening.
I first heard of Rich Trumka in about 1978. A colleague with coal mining connections told me then about Trumka, a coal miner from a coal mining family. He’d graduated from law school. Then he’d gone back down in the mines, intending to become president of the coal miners’ union. My colleague was rock-certain that he would.
Well, Trumka has done that and then some.
Yes, this gives me hope!
Well, my heavens, that’s quite a tale.
Impressive persistence.
Isn’t it telling that this thread has so few responses, when other threads with far less significance have many comments?
I fricking LOVE the purple, Black sabbath circa 1971 letters behind him!
Thats why it always boils my blood when reichwing pigs like rush hudson limbaugh the 3rd (apparently there WERE 2 OTHERS!)talk about “big union money”…they elect their leadership from among the ranks..their money comes from the dues of millions of workers, hourly wages and sweat blood. fuck the right wing pigs.
19 comments on this film says it all about americans
we have not declined enough yet to realize what michael moore knows.
but we will after we attain third world status
capitalism a love affair that will eliminate the middle class in america
and to think the middle class lined up to vote for dutch reagan fools but only out of ignorance
the great decline started with reagan now his followers continue the quest while the demos hide in fear of the repubs
not one rep senate vote and they cave
why? the demos are paid off also by big corp america
but pretend to represent the voters; con game par excellence.
sign up independent and create an independent party and a voting block like the blacks and the latinos have
Republicans fear the people organized and outraged. They fear retribution in the form of the guillotine. Republicans on the otherhand prefer a slower method for retribution against the working and middle class. Kill them slowly over a period of years and they won’t even realize they have died.
That’s it in a nutshell. The losses to union workers over the past few decades have hurt all of us, not just union workers. Wages have been stagnant, and increases in productivity have not been shared down the SES ladder.
Something tells me that those things are going to change.