Free Republic

In the middle of August, Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO union hierarchy, exercised expert -- and malicious -- timing to embarrass the President Donald Trump. But Trumka never would have had the opportunity without White House advisors’ assistance. Back in January, Trumka and his deputy chief of staff, Thea Lee, had happily accepted invitations from the Trump Administration to serve on the newly-established Presidential Manufacturing Council and Policy Forum. Apparently, at least some Trump advisors thought it was a good idea to solicit the advice of a man who had, just a few months before, publicly denounced the...

The president of the AFL-CIO stepped down from a council advising the White House on Tuesday, hours after President Trump reiterated that both sides were to blame for deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va., where white supremacist groups rallied over the weekend. "President Trump’s remarks today repudiate his forced remarks yesterday about the KKK and neo-Nazis," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. He announced that both he and AFL-CIO leader Thea Lee would step down from Trump's Manufacturing Advisory Board. "We must resign on behalf of America’s working people, who reject all notions of legitimacy of these bigoted groups."...

During the 2016 election, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump made it clear that his administration would be more aggressive in pursuing immigration enforcement. This likely means more aggressive workplace actions, including raids that result in the immediate arrest of working people. Our new We Will Defend and Resist toolkit explains the processes and players involved in worksite enforcement and provides resources and guidance on how to prepare for and respond to a raid or audit. Check out the toolkit and be prepared.

Of all the attacks on our civil society, the attacks on evidence-based science pose perhaps the greatest existential threat. Decisions being made about climate science and environmental protection at this critical time will shape the future of our planet. Advances in research are produced by the twin pillars of dedicated scientists and an activated citizenry who demand that the best science be applied to today’s most pressing problems. Because scientists produce the facts that expose the lies currently being purveyed, the tip of the spear is pointed at the heart of science-based policy and research. But the imminent threat also...

President Trump will hold individual meetings on Tuesday with two men who have consistently criticized his policies. Trump will first sit down with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at 12:30 in the presidential dining room in the White House. The two first butted heads during the campaign. Following the election, Graham continued to challenge some of Trump's foreign policy stances. In late December, Graham said nearly the entire Senate disagreed with the then-president-elect's statement that Russia did not try to meddle in the U.S. election.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics union membership hit an all-time low in 2016 of just 10.7 percent. That decline has consequences for unions like the AFL-CIO, which Bloomberg reports is dismissing dozens of staff members: The AFL-CIO is dismissing dozens of staff members as part of a restructuring amid continuing declines in union membership and fresh political threats to labor rights. “We will have to end support for some programs that don’t go to our core priorities,” said AFL-CIO spokesman Josh Goldstein, who declined to discuss the number of staff affected. “This is about reimagining and realigning our...

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General: The AFL-CIO opposed the nomination of Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General because of the nominee's long record of working to undermine the rights the Attorney General must uphold. The very process by which he was confirmed—the silencing of Senator Elizabeth Warren for reading a letter from Coretta Scott King on the Senate floor--demonstrated what his nomination was really about. Now that he has been confirmed, Senator Sessions has the chance to show us wrong—to uphold the law and protect the Constitution, to protect all...

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka made the following statement about last week’s immigration executive orders:President Donald Trump has announced three executive orders addressing immigration that are an affront to core union and American values. Building a wall on our border, scapegoating immigrants and refugees, and shutting out people of Muslim faith will do nothing to uplift working people in our country. To the contrary, these orders sow fear of raids among workers, promote racial profiling and erode core constitutional protections. As such, they are a clear attack on our members, and elevated fear is a direct obstacle to workers’ rights to...

Three years ago, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez of Honduras spoke before us here in Washington about the need for the United States and all nations to set aside the single-minded pursuit of wealth. He repeated Pope Francis’ warning about an economy that kills. He cited global inequality that has left working families so far behind that they often don’t have safe places to sleep, enough food to eat or access to clean water.These concerns threaten us right here in America, right now. It’s the paradox of scarcity, and its solution is both increasingly difficult and increasingly important to embrace. When you...

House Democrats joined Big Labor on Tuesday in voicing support for Donald Trump's push to renegotiate NAFTA and other trade deals -- while also vowing to hold the incoming Republican president to that campaign promise. “Trump said he wants to fight for trade deals that put American workers first, and so do we,” said Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio. “We are going to give very strong support for rewriting NAFTA. The momentum for a new direction is very, very clear and growing.”

Working people in America's unions, the AFL-CIO, wish you a safe and happy holiday season with your friends, family and loved ones.

Labor leaders talk a big game to justify their stranglehold on American workplaces. Take AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: “Solidarity can mean the difference between life and death.” According to the financial reports of three major labor unions—the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and National Education Association (NEA)—Big Labor spends huge sums of money on implicitly political advocacy far removed from worker “solidarity.” In 2016, Trumka’s AFL-CIO sent nearly $700,000 to Catalist, a leading Democratic Party data firm founded by Harold Ickes—a former Hillary Clinton aide—and supported by none other than George Soros. The AFL-CIO also sent about $338,000 to...

This post originally appeared at Daily Kos.Memo to the media: Chuck Jones is president of United Steelworkers Local 1999 at the Carrier factory in Indianapolis.He’s not a "union boss." But you wouldn’t know that from this New York Times headline: "Trump as Cyberbully in Chief? Twitter Attack on Union Boss Draws Fire," or from this MSNBC TV on-screen caption: "Carrier Union Boss Responds to Trump Attacks."To be fair, the Times and MSNBC stories were straight news accounts of Jones saying that Donald Trump lied his you-know-what off and that the president-elect threw a Twitter tantrum in response. Even so, this...

The Executive Council of the 12.5 million member AFL-CIO has voted overwhelmingly to endorse Representative Keith Ellison to lead the Democratic National Committee. Over the last few weeks, several candidates have sought the endorsement of the AFL-CIO and met personally with members of the Political Committee, which ultimately recommended the endorsement.“Representative Ellison meets the high standard working people expect from leaders of our political parties,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “He is a proven leader who will focus on year-round grassroots organizing to deliver for working families across America. Under his leadership, the Democratic Party will embody the values that...

The AFL-CIO endorsed Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) to take over a Democratic National Committee (DNC) that was rocked by scandal during the 2016 campaign season. “Ellison meets the high standard working people expect from leaders of our political parties,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Thursday in a statement. “He is a proven leader who will focus on year-round grassroots organizing to deliver for working families across America. Under his leadership, the Democratic Party will embody the values that our members stand for every day.” Ellison is seen as an early frontrunner in the race for DNC chairman, having secured union...

In the wake of Donald Trump winning the presidency after a campaign that often targeted and scapegoated immigrants, Latinos and Muslims, the AFT has pledged to take concrete action to assist these groups, with a particular emphasis on assisting and defending undocumented students. AFT President Randi Weingarten said AFT will "do everything in our power to stop any kind of action against our immigrant families, our Muslim families, our Latino families and especially our undocumented students."Specifically, she said that the AFT will: Support cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and others as they reaffirm sanctuary status...

Lily Eskelsen Garcia, NEA President

WASHINGTON—In response to President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education, AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement:“The president-elect, in his selection of Betsy DeVos, has chosen the most ideological, anti-public education nominee put forward since President Carter created a Cabinet-level Department of Education. “In nominating DeVos, Trump makes it loud and clear that his education policy will focus on privatizing, defunding and destroying public education in America. “DeVos has no meaningful experience in the classroom or in our schools. The sum total of her involvement has been spending her family’s wealth in an effort to...

Dear Union Member:Thanksgiving is a holiday of solidarity—commemorating a short-lived moment when Pilgrims and Native Americans broke bread together at a common table. This Thanksgiving, America’s working people and our unions are committed to standing with each other—in solidarity. We are reminded this holiday season of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and most of all, freedom from fear.Thanksgiving is a holiday of plenty—a celebration of the bounty that hard work in America can and should bring. This election season we heard many promises of plenty—promises to create jobs, to raise wages, to...

'Hate Cannot Be the New Normal': Teachers, Working People in Unions, Faith and Civil Rights Leaders Urge President-Elect Trump to Condemn Hate Speech As the number of hate-related incidents has been escalating in the recent days following the 2016 election campaign marked by the extreme and hateful rhetoric of Donald Trump, working people in unions are calling on the president-elect to take a stand. During his acceptance speech, Trump said he would work to unite all working people.Working people are demanding that Trump commit to representing all of America’s people by "loudly, forcefully, unequivocally and consistently denouncing these acts and the...