In a wide-ranging speech at the National Press Club on Jan. 19, the federation leader challenged those elected officials to work for jobs rather than for other narrow causes. He said that’s what workers and voters want.
And if the politicians won’t go out and create jobs, he added, the labor movement may well try to do so itself, as it now does with an experimental partnership with business and government in Los Angeles.
Richard Trumka |
Polls, including one last week by Democratic analyst Stan Greenberg, show likely voters – especially Democrats and independents – agree with the jobs priority and disagree with the rest. Voters are also very concerned about outsourcing.
“Too many of our politicians are doing the opposite of what works, destroying our public institutions, crushing working people’s rights and living standards, failing to invest in education. We know this model and we know where it leads: Catastrophe,” he said.
“The conventional wisdom in Washington and in statehouses around the country is that we cannot afford to be the country that we want to be. That could not be more wrong,” he declared.
“We should act like the wealthy, compassionate imaginative country we are -- not try to turn ourselves into a third-rate impoverished ‘has-been,’” Trumka stated. “We don’t need to settle for stagnation and ever-spiraling inequality.”
Though Trumka faulted politicians of both parties for giving up on job creation and instead listening to Wall Street and deficit-cutting calls, he singled out three Republican governors in particular for criticism: Mitch Daniels of Indiana, John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker in Wisconsin.
Trumka faulted Kasich for trying to cut the wages and collective bargaining rights of home care workers, and the other two for dumping proposed high-speed rail construction projects at a time of high joblessness in the building trades. Such projects, Trumka added, would also keep the U.S. among technologically advancing nations, creating jobs that way.
Trumka also blasted politicians who denigrate public workers. Responding to questions afterwards, he said “I’m frustrated every time someone tries to demonize a teacher, a Fire Fighter, a police officer. I’m frustrated to see a Congress trying to repeal health care. I’m frustrated that 15 million Americans want to work…and they can’t.”
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
Video highlights from the Trumka speech
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In a wide-ranging speech at the National Press Club on Jan. 19, the federation leader challenged those elected officials to work for jobs rather than for other narrow causes. He said that’s what workers and voters want.
And if the politicians won’t go out and create jobs, he added, the labor movement may well try to do so itself, as it now does with an experimental partnership with business and government in Los Angeles.
Richard Trumka |
Trumka spoke as the 112th Congress – with a GOP-run House and a larger Republican contingent in the Senate – got down to business, and signaled that rather than tackling jobs, it wants to repeal last year’s health insurance overhaul and institute cuts, as recommended by a presidential commission, in Social Security and Medicare.
Polls, including one last week by Democratic analyst Stan Greenberg, show likely voters – especially Democrats and independents – agree with the jobs priority and disagree with the rest. Voters are also very concerned about outsourcing.
“Too many of our politicians are doing the opposite of what works, destroying our public institutions, crushing working people’s rights and living standards, failing to invest in education. We know this model and we know where it leads: Catastrophe,” he said.
“The conventional wisdom in Washington and in statehouses around the country is that we cannot afford to be the country that we want to be. That could not be more wrong,” he declared.
“We should act like the wealthy, compassionate imaginative country we are — not try to turn ourselves into a third-rate impoverished ‘has-been,’” Trumka stated. “We don’t need to settle for stagnation and ever-spiraling inequality.”
Though Trumka faulted politicians of both parties for giving up on job creation and instead listening to Wall Street and deficit-cutting calls, he singled out three Republican governors in particular for criticism: Mitch Daniels of Indiana, John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker in Wisconsin.
Trumka faulted Kasich for trying to cut the wages and collective bargaining rights of home care workers, and the other two for dumping proposed high-speed rail construction projects at a time of high joblessness in the building trades. Such projects, Trumka added, would also keep the U.S. among technologically advancing nations, creating jobs that way.
Trumka also blasted politicians who denigrate public workers. Responding to questions afterwards, he said “I’m frustrated every time someone tries to demonize a teacher, a Fire Fighter, a police officer. I’m frustrated to see a Congress trying to repeal health care. I’m frustrated that 15 million Americans want to work…and they can’t.”
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
Video highlights from the Trumka speech