Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President, Lays Out Bright Future For Unions In Wake Of Wisconsin Protests

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/wisconsin-election-protests-unions-afl-cio_n_846264.html

First Posted: 04/ 7/11 03:38 PM ET Updated: 04/ 7/11 04:01 PM ET


Andrea Stone
Andrea Stone [e-mail]

One day after Wisconsin voters turned out in force for a judicial election widely seen as a referendum on Gov. Scott Walker’s law ending collective bargaining for public workers, the president of the AFL-CIO declared, “the labor movement has a rich and vibrant future.”


In a speech called “The Future of Unions," Richard Trumka insisted that term is no oxymoron.

“The over-reaching of anti-worker politicians today may have given us the game-changer we need,” he said at Wayne State University in Detroit. “It may have provided the sparks for the next surge of labor.”

The speech was timed to pick up on the momentum of protests in Madison and many other state capitals, where Republican governors and legislators have pushed through bills to blunt the already waning clout of organized labor.

Trumka said this moment in history is different than those that came before.

“For more than a generation, we’ve been fighting back against a coordinated, corporate-led assault on working people," he said. "Most of the time, we’ve gone from one fight to the next with scarcely a moment to rest. So it’s a gift, truly a gift, for us to stop today and reflect on where we are, how we got here and where we’re going."

But while Trumka admitted that union membership in the private sector is under 7 percent and overall has dropped below 12 percent, he argued that the end of organized labor is “not even close."

FULL story at link.

[madrchsod]

1. chicago....

http://www.afscme31.org/news?id=0177

it was great to see all the unions there...espically all the different trade unions in illinois.


the high school girl rock`d

[CatholicEdHead]

2. There will probably be a plateau over all of this

in the shorter term. In the longer term unions have to adapt like corporations to go international. Just like in the early 1800s where large employers went national so unions had to adapt and go national (see "A History of American Labor" by Rayback). International corporation is far from easy (given other governments around the world) and the only way for long term rebuilding and success.