Family Values @ Work Remembers AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

(WASHINGTON, DC) — The Labor Project and Family Values @ Work extend our deepest gratitude for the life and leadership of Richard Trumka. Our hearts go out to both his family and the labor community for the loss of a labor leader who demonstrated time and again a commitment to the notion that workers’ rights are human rights, and that women’s issues are labor issues.

As a member of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), the first union to reject racist practices and integrate its membership, Rich Trumka fought for all workers and their families and at the young age of 33 ran on a reform campaign to become the union’s youngest president. He also led one of America’s most impactful strikes against the Pittston Coal Company, improving health and pension standards for workers.

His rise to AFL-CIO President recognized his deep commitment to building power across all communities, his clarity about the role of working people in our democracy and an unyielding belief in family and gender equity. He encouraged the inclusion of work and family issues in convention resolutions with language promoting paid family and medical leave, paid sick days, and equal pay.

Even before the #MeToo Movement was formally underway, Richard Trumka led the AFL-CIO affiliates to establish new norms regarding sexual assault, and created a Code of Conduct that is read before every meeting addressing harassment, retaliation and other discriminatory behaviors. He was clear about his own privilege and stated in a February 2018 speech entitled, “Labor Has a Special Responsibility to Stop Sexual Harassment“:

“But there is no denying I am a white man in a position of power. Social and cultural norms have been specifically enforced to benefit people like me.

When I go to work, I don’t have to worry about someone touching me inappropriately or judging me by what I’m wearing. I don’t have to live in fear of harassment or reprisal. When I speak with passion and conviction, no one calls me bossy.”

Leaders with awareness of the systems of oppression and their own privilege in it are rare. Richard Trumka lived a life of meaning, steeped in a belief in the dignity of work, and fighting for all workers. To honor his life, we would do well to continue fighting for working people, families, and communities with strategies centered in progressive values and grounded in equity. He will certainly be missed but he leaves behind lessons for all of us.  

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