Labor & Employment Law

Trumka: Union Votes Can Beat False Populism and Economic Treason

By Mike Hall

AFL-CIO President Trumka took part in an early morning worksite leafleting of construction workers and taxi drivers at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas.

When U.S., corporations sit on more than $800 billion without creating jobs, when banks hoard more than $1 trillion in profits without lending to small businesses and consumers  and when health insurance companies with tens of billions in profits demand huge premium increases, there are only two words to describe such greed says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

“Economic treason!”

Addressing the Ohio AFL-CIO convention in Columbus today, Trumka called on union members to mobilize and rally behind “economic patriots? in a ?knock down drag-out? fight against the ?false populism and name calling? that Tea Party and Republican leaders  like House minority leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) are employing in this fall?s elections.

We know what Rep. John Boehner will do if he gets the Speaker?s gave?because he?s told us!  He?ll privatize and cut Social Security, protect the corporations that send our jobs overseas, slash taxes for the super-rich. There will be no more extensions of unemployment benefits. No jobs legislation. No infrastructure spending. No Davis Bacon.  No retirement security. No health care.

Speaking specifically about Ohio races, Trumka told union members it will be their work, jobsite leafleting, neighborhood walks and phone calls that will re-elect Gov. Ted Strickland, send Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher to the U.S. Senate and re-elect Rep. Betty Jo Sutton to the U.S. House.

He warned  that if  Republican candidates John Kasich for governor, Rob Portman for U.S. Senate and Tom Ganely for U.S. House are successful on Nov. 2, it

equals one ugly future for America!  It?s a bleak vision of a weak nation in decline.

Brothers and sisters, our vision for America is on the line.  It?s a vision of a better, stronger future, a renewal of the American Dream?the dream that all of us can earn a fair portion of the good things in life, time with our families, an education for our children, a voice on the job, a comfortable retirement?even if we?re not rich.

Trumka?s Ohio action followed a busy day in Nevada where he spoke to the Bricklayers (BAC) convention, took part in a jobs rally in conjunction with the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) ?It?s About Jobs? bus tour and handed-out worksite leaflets at a construction site and ?taxi pit? (see photo) at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas .

Mike Reinecke, the AFL-CIO Labor 2010 Nevada state director reports that at the 5:45 a.m. leafleting Trumka, Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) and gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid were accompanied by several union leaders from the unions on the project.

They explained how both Titus and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) passed legislation that brought more than $250 million for critical infrastructure to Nevada and how without Reid?s help the McCarran Airport construction project would not have received the $97 million in tax exemptions, which allowed work to continue and saved the jobs of those workers.

At the BAC convention Trumka said:

Its 50 days until Election Day. And there are races all over this country that we can win, that we’re going to win if we do what we know how to do. It won’t be easy.  But we understand hard work. We know the anti-worker politicians, and the corporations, and the ideologues don’t want the union vote. They want us to stay home, frustrated and angry at Washington.

But that’s not going to happen.  Not on our watch!  Because it’s going to come down to us and we’re going to make the difference?race by race, a few thousand votes, a few hundred votes.  Those will be the margins?the difference we make.

It’s going to be your vote, your members, your worksite leafleting, your neighborhood walks, your commitment to Labor 2010.

Click here to read Trumka’s Las Vegas speech and here for the Columbus address.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on September 14, 2010 (boomark / email).