Althouse: "During a speech Tuesday morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called out former President Barack Obama..."

April 25, 2019

"During a speech Tuesday morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called out former President Barack Obama..."

"... for his buddy-buddy relationship with Wall Street and his questionable negotiations on trade.... 'He surrounded himself with Wall Street people who didn’t understand working people... He spent the last year of his administration fighting us on TPP... That probably cost [Democrats] the election.'... Beyond condemning Obama, the AFL-CIO penned a lengthy letter in opposition to the Green New Deal... Trumka and Trump haven’t seen eye-to-eye in the past. The president has called him out over policy disagreements, claiming that Trumka’s leadership has driven the decline in union membership — which hit a record low in 2018.... It’s highly unlikely that the leadership at the AFL-CIO will be jumping on the Trump train anytime soon, but its public criticisms of Democratic policies and leadership signal that the Democratic Party may be losing grasp of the union votes it’s enjoyed for the past several decades."

From "Major Union Breaks From Political Norm to Slam Obama, Credit Trump: Here’s Why That Matters for 2020" (IJR).

ADDED: I remember, back in 2011, during the Wisconsin protests — which were intensely focused on union rights — there was a great deal of criticism of President Obama for not participating, not helping. Obama had promised, in a 2007 speech, to "put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself" and "walk on that picket line" with union workers:

46 comments:

Kevin said...: Good thing Biden is able to run as both the second coming of Obama and a rebuke to all of his unpopular policies.; 4/25/19, 9:40 AM
rhhardin said...: What's bad for unions is having a choice about joining a union. Unions price themselves out of a job regardless of trade policies if people can choose.; 4/25/19, 9:41 AM
Kevin said...: No other candidate is mentioning unions.

Biden’s turning the word into a drinking game.

Trump will just keep talking about jobs, because that’s what people want. Union or no.; 4/25/19, 9:44 AM
Big Mike said...: the Democratic Party may be losing grasp of the union votes it’s enjoyed for the past several decades.

Is Madison Dibble the pen name for "Captain Obvious"? Trump got the support of the union rank and file in 2016. I see no reason why he should lose it in 2020. Trumpka may be trying to catch up to his own membership.; 4/25/19, 9:46 AM
Meade said...: “The AFL-CIO still regularly criticizes the Trump administration and Republicans, but it cannot help but acknowledge the pro-worker policies coming out of the White House.“; 4/25/19, 9:48 AM
Howard said...: This is what reinventing the Democrat party looks like; 4/25/19, 9:52 AM
Howard said...: Forrest Biden to the rescue; 4/25/19, 9:53 AM
mccullough said...: Unions didn’t stop their workers jobs from getting sent to other countries.

Obama like Clinton didn’t care.

They get rich from the boys on Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood.

The unions couldn’t pay them $100 million for carrying their water.; 4/25/19, 10:02 AM
Meade said...: Bernie McGovern to the rescue.; 4/25/19, 10:03 AM
mccullough said...: Biden’s kid Hunter got over a billion from China.

He then left his wife and kids to go fuck his dead brother’s wife.

Biden Family Values.; 4/25/19, 10:04 AM
Greg Q said...: It’s highly unlikely that the leadership at the AFL-CIO will be jumping on the Trump train anytime soon, but its public criticisms of Democratic policies and leadership signal that the Democratic Party may be losing grasp of the union votes it’s enjoyed for the past several decades."

May?

They DID lose that grasp, it's why Trump won.

The Progressives and the (non-gov't) union workers are enemies. They've been open enemies since the Obama "Stimulus", that had pork for every Democrat constituency, except for men doing physical jobs.

It took the men a while to notice, but they're noticing now.; 4/25/19, 10:04 AM
Seeing Red said...: It’s terrible oil industry jobs have surged and can make $200k/yr.

This is the divide. Right there. How dare you make that much money without a degree? Possibly not going into debt....; 4/25/19, 10:07 AM
rehajm said...: That catch all- Wall Street. So few financial services people actually work there. It’s like labeling all union workers thugs. Well, not really like that at all.; 4/25/19, 10:07 AM
Seeing Red said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/19, 10:07 AM
rehajm said...: Why isn’t Joe fifty points ahead?; 4/25/19, 10:09 AM
Tommy Duncan said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/19, 10:15 AM
Hagar said...: Unions - deduct NEA/AFT and AFSCME and what is left?; 4/25/19, 10:16 AM
Tommy Duncan said...: Did Obama ever find those comfortable shoes? They were missing for a long time.; 4/25/19, 10:16 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Obama likes to hover above the fray......; 4/25/19, 10:20 AM
Jaq said...: Look at Mr Toothless Pee Pee tapes comments if you want to see the disgust the Democrat Party now has for men who work with their hands.; 4/25/19, 10:21 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: "Trumpka may be trying to catch up to his own membership."

This. It's not something he wants to say, but he can no longer pretend that he doesn't have to say it.; 4/25/19, 10:29 AM
MayBee said...: Obama did whatever was easiest and whatever would set him and his family up for a life of comfort and fame (I think Malia wanted this for a while, working with Lena Dunham and Harvy Weinstein. Now I am not as sure); 4/25/19, 11:03 AM
TJM said...: Obama, like the Clintoons, became wealthy off of government "service." Harry Truman would vomit at this; 4/25/19, 11:06 AM
buwaya said...: From my perspective, having worked with many unionized people in manufacturing and technology companies for decades, the national union leadership has been completely at odds, politically, with its members in industrial unions for decades now.

Service industry unions are another story.; 4/25/19, 11:43 AM
Humperdink said...: I remain curious as to Trumka's career as a coal miner. It was reported by PBS that he worked in the mines for seven years to support his college years at Penn State. Trumka was born in 1949 and graduated in 1971 with a BS degree from PSU. The math escapes me.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01292010/profile.html; 4/25/19, 11:50 AM
JAORE said...: Until the day he died my Dad carried his union card for the KC heavy equipment operators (I was in the Laborers Union). He would have been disgusted by the current democratic party and their attitudes about blue collar workers. I sure as hell am.; 4/25/19, 12:06 PM
JAORE said...: Heavy Construction Laborers - Local 663 if it matters.

Early lesson, the Union Steward was not interested in the needs/desires of the laborer.; 4/25/19, 12:08 PM
Big Mike said...: Shoot. Nobody caught that I slipped an extra 'P' into Trumka's name. I confess that I could not resist doing that little swipe at him.; 4/25/19, 12:10 PM
rcocean said...: Obama was going to do something about NAFTA - or so he said in 2008. And then he pushed TPP. As did Biden.

Trumka's himself is a big fraud. Trump reached out to him on the "infrastructure Bill" to get union members jobs - and then Trumka called Trump a racist after Charlottsville and flounced off.

If he, and the other labor union leaders, have been secretly bought by some Billionaire - I wouldn't be surprised.; 4/25/19, 1:22 PM
Bilwick said...: It didn't start with Biden, or even Obama. See Anthony Sutton's WALL STREET AND FDR, among other books.; 4/25/19, 2:14 PM
Infinite Monkeys said...: Obama likes to hover above the fray......

Leading from behind.; 4/25/19, 2:24 PM
TJM said...: If the Dems are the party of the little guy, the little guy is screwed. It looks to me that the Dems are the party of Wall Street, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley; 4/25/19, 2:25 PM
The Vault Dweller said...: I think Trunpka is criticizing the democrats because their larger political strategy of, all identity politics all the time covered with a layer of fair trade, eco-friendly, vegan frosting of environmentalism, has alienated lots of the labor vote. I also think a little of this is muscle flexing of the AFL-CIO at a time when public sector unions are in a rough spot. Janus really hurt the public sector unions, and from what I can gather AFL-CIO is a collection of private sector unions. (If I am wrong someone please correct me). Trumpka is saying, hey democrats, if you still want MY union's money and ad-buys, at a time when you are hurting because the public-sector ones are waning, you better be a little more friendly to labor policies.

The chance of labor union leadership jumping ship and supporting Trump is pretty close to nil. Though obviously lots of labor voters will likely vote for Trump, maybe even a majority.; 4/25/19, 2:34 PM
rhhardin said...: I dimly recall a strike against International Harvester that ended with closing the plant. The union chief announced to the press it as a moral victory.; 4/25/19, 2:42 PM
AllenS said...: Trumka has been reading the writing on the walls of the union bathrooms, and he has become aware that he's been on the wrong side of the working man/woman. He's a whore, and will work with whomever will insure right to his present job. I can imagine that he will get behind Biden until Biden admits that he is no friend of labor workers. Trumka has no choice but to back Trump eventually.; 4/25/19, 4:54 PM
gilbar said...: mccullough said...
Biden’s kid Hunter got over a billion from China.
then got kicked out of the Navy Reserve for being a Coke Addict
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/joe-bidens-son-hunter-kicked-out-navy-cocaine-n227811
He then left his wife and kids to go fuck his dead brother’s wife.
meanwhile his sister ashley was filmed using Coke, after a history of drug use
https://nypost.com/2009/03/30/parties-pot-in-ashley-bidens-past/
Biden Family Values.

{filled it out for you }; 4/25/19, 5:11 PM
h said...: gilbar: I'm not in favor of bringing possible Presidential children into the public debate unless the candidate him/her self actually puts them there (or I guess, unless the child uses the parental fame to push themselves into the public debate).

to all: In addition to Trump appealing to union rank and file on trade issues, the Supreme court decision (Janus) that eliminated involuntary dues to public employee unions could also make a big impact on the 2020 elections.; 4/25/19, 6:12 PM
h said...: Humperdink: I was interested in the question you raised about Trumpka, so I googled, and here's what I found:

"Trumka, a third-generation coal miner from Nemacolin, Pennsylvania, began working in the mines at age 19. As a member of UMWA Local 6290, he served as Chairman of the Safety Committee. He soon became an activist in the Miners for Democracy reform movement. Trumka worked in the mines for more than seven years, supporting himself while attending Pennsylvania State University, where he graduated in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree, and through Villanova University, where he received a law degree in 1974. He served four years on the legal staff of the United Mine Workers during the reform administration of Arnold Miller before returning to the coal mines in 1979, while also conducting pro bono legal work for local families in the Nemacolin area during his hours away from the mine."

It seems to me that the numbers add up: He worked for 7 seven years in the mines, and he spent 4 years at PSU undergrad and 3 or 4 years at VIllanova law.; 4/25/19, 6:19 PM
Humperdink said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/19, 6:35 PM
Humperdink said...: " He worked for 7 seven years in the mines, and he spent 4 years at PSU undergrad and 3 or 4 years at VIllanova law."

It was three years at Villanova law school. Isn't three years of law school a year round endeavor with no summers off? And there aren't a lot of deep mines in Philly. Maybe I'm wrong.; 4/25/19, 7:02 PM
libertariansafetyguy said...: At some point, union rank and file will get a voice in their unions.; 4/25/19, 7:34 PM
Gk1 said...: Who do you think union members will gravitate to? Democrats not only promise but pledge to put energy industries out of business. How can this go unnoticed by the miners unions, train engineers etc. Will union members flock to the party that fought tooth and nail against Trump's efforts to renegotiate NAFTA and other out of kilter economic treaties? The democrats have foolishly boxed themselves in on so many fronts they can no longer pretend to care about the working union man, particularly white, blue collar workers. They can't afford to seek their votes without upsetting all of the other identity obsessed minority groups in their shaky coaliton.; 4/25/19, 9:48 PM
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Robert Cook said...: Obama was always a poseur, a fraud, a conman, a self-satisfied friend of the rich and powerful and enemy of the people. Just as all our presidents for decades have been, and remain.; 4/26/19, 7:51 AM
Robert Cook said...: "It’s terrible oil industry jobs have surged and can make $200k/yr."

Really? Do you think millions of Americans working low-wage, dead-end jobs are going to be able to get oil industry jobs that will allow them to make $200K/yr (or even $100k/yr)? It's not gonna happen.; 4/26/19, 7:54 AM
Robert Cook said...: "From my perspective, having worked with many unionized people in manufacturing and technology companies for decades, the national union leadership has been completely at odds, politically, with its members in industrial unions for decades now.

"Service industry unions are another story."

Yes. It's the same old story: power (and wealth) corrupts. Union leaders make handsome salaries, enjoy generous benefits, and they associate with powerful people. They come to see themselves as above their members, and as members of the elites.

I was a member of a service industry union for 8 years and I remain pro-union. It's union leadership that needs to be reformed.; 4/26/19, 8:30 AM