Somehow-----TRUMKA has not been replaced. No one person could lead at a time when all of labor union accomplishments from FDR to LBJ have been dismantled all while Trumka had the AFL-CIO backing Clinton neo-liberal candidates in races at all levels. To place a nail in unions----Trans Pacific Trade Pact brings developing world labor to the US free from any labor laws. This all happens with the super-majority of Americans not even knowing what TPP or Clinton neo-liberalism is. ALL AROUND THE WORLD PEOPLE ARE PROTESTING AND THROWING POLS OUT FOR PRESSING TPP AND NEO-LIBERALISM ON THEM AND THAT HAPPENS BECAUSE LABOR AND JUSTICE ORGANIZATIONS EDUCATE PEOPLE ABOUT THESE POLICIES. When I see Trumka these days I see him sitting with Harvard and Georgetown neo-liberal economists touting the latest privatization policy. Meanwhile----the American people get a few progressive bones. GET RID OF TRUMKA TO REBUILD AND STRENGTHEN UNIONS AND LABOR. LaborTalk for May 21, 2010 Brother Trumka, What Do You Do for Members, Besides Making Your Anti-Wall Street Speeches? By Harry Kelber Since March, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has been making speeches in cities and counties across the country, including one in Wall Street itself, with a double-barreled message: “Make Wall Street Pay!” and “Decent Jobs Now!” Despite his excellent speeches, Brother Trumka has not gotten a dime from the banks and Wall Street tycoons. The reason is obvious. He hasn’t asked them for money, or even suggested a “ball park” price tag as compensation for the innocent people who lost their jobs, their homes and a part of their retirement income because of Wall Street’s reckless and greedy behavior. There is no public evidence that Brother Trumka has ever spoken to the banks’ CEOs or that he even knows them or has made an effort to meet them. So how can he make them pay? The furthest he has gone is to ask the Wall Streeters to pay their fair share” of the cost of creating the jobs they destroyed. And who decides what’s a “fair share”? If Brother Trumka and the AFL-CIO Executive Council were really interested in making Wall Street pay, here is a scenario that could have a good chance of accomplishing it: Let’s suppose that Brother Trumka decided to go into a Washington branch of the Bank of America with a committee of union members, instead of speechifying on the outside. He could demand to see the bank’s CEO and senior officers. The bank’s officials would have to meet him, because he had excellent leverage: he could threaten to withdraw the deposits of the AFL-CIO and its affiliates, as well as the savings of union members, if the bank refused to negotiate or discuss an opening offer. Union members would be pleased at the AFL-CIO’s initiative. But that’s not Brother Trumka’s game. He wants to keep the Wall Street issue alive by attacking it by remote control. He also diverts attention from AFL-CIO’s loss of membership, its lack of an organizing plan and its legislative failures. Trumka’s Perpetual Silence Toward Members Is Harmful Brother Trumka insists that “the labor movement has a plan for creating millions of jobs NOW!” So who is going to provide the tens of billions to pay for those jobs? Not Congress or the Obama administration. Their focus is on cutting the federal budget and the national debt. So who will make Wall Street pay? Brother Trumka concluded his Wall Street speech by declaring”: “We’re here today. We’ll be here tomorrow. And we’re not going to stop until we create the 11 million good jobs we need and rebuild the middle class.” Will Trumka tell us how he’s going to accomplish this miracle? Or does even he really believe it? Some critics call Brother Trumka’s speeches “sheer demagoguery.” * * * * * It’s amazing how Brother Trumka gets away without telling union members what’s going on within the AFL-CIO. We haven’t the vaguest idea how our dues money is spent, because he and his secretary-treasurer have refused to give out any information. We don’t know if there’s a plan to organize new workers or what is happening with the Employee Free Choice Act (EFPC) or health and safety legislation and other issues affecting our livelihood and well-being. Tight-lipped silence is Brother Trumka’s usual response to questions that displease him. He can ignore critics, because his job as AFL-CIO president, under present convention rules, cannot be challenged, not only for the next eight years, but for his lifetime until he finally decides to retire. Is the AFL-CIO a democratic organization? Are members’ rights important? Is this how unions should be run?—Harry Kelber
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 02:54:32 +0000
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