AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka addresses the Economic Club of Washington in Washington, DC on April 23, 2019.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka died Thursday at the age of 72.
Trumka had served as president of the 12.5 million-member labor federation since 2009.
President Joe Biden called Trumka a close friend after learning of the labor leader’s death.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, choked back tears as he spoke on the Senate floor about Trumka, whose AFL-CIO is comprised of more than 50 union affiliates, and is a key backer of Democratic candidates.
” I rise today with some sad, horrible news about the passing of a great friend Rich Trumpka who left us this morning,” Schumer said, before pausing to compose himself.
“The working people of America have lost a fierce warrior at a time when we needed him most.”
Trumka grew up in Nemacolin, Pennsylvania, a coal-mining town. As a college and law school student, Trumka worked as coal miner, as his father and grandfather had done.
At 33 years old, he ran and won on a reform ticket for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America in 1982.
Trumka was a major force in Biden’s selection of Marty Walsh as secretary of the Labor Department.
As Biden was assembling his Cabinet, Trumka’s lobbying for the then-Boston mayor was crucial to cementing Biden’s choice to nominate Walsh over Rep. Andy Levin, the Michigan Democrat who was the preferred candidate of some of the AFL-CIO’s affiliated unions
Trumka was equally influential when Republicans occupied the White House.
In 2019, Trumka convinced several skeptical Democratic House members, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to pass then-President Donald Trump’s revised version of the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as the USMCA.
Labor unions have long criticized NAFTA, claiming it sent tens of thousands of U.S. union manufacturing jobs over the border to Mexico, where wages are lower and labor unions represent industries, and not the workers in them.
Trumka later said that while USMCA was far from perfect, it was a large step toward undoing the harm caused by NAFTA. USMCA passed the House in Dec. 2019, with 41 Democrats voting against it.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman said Trumka’s death was “truly heartbreaking.”
“We lost a larger than life figure who spent a career fighting for, and defending the Union Way of Life,” Fetterman, a Democrat, wrote in a tweet.
“It’s left to the rest of us to pick up the slack and never stop fighting. #UnionStrong.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ordered flags in that state flown at half-staff to mark Trumka’s death.
“America’s and New Jersey’s working families have lost one of their most steadfast and dedicated allies,” Murphy said in a statement. “Organized labor has lost one of its most powerful voices.”
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
