AFL-CIO Statement on Scott Walker Announcement

July 13, 2015

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in response to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s upcoming announcement to run for President of the United States:

Scott Walker is a national disgrace.

Heh. Richard Trumka wins the Internets today.

Here we go again.

From the AFL-CIO:

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka On Speaker Boehner’s Proposal

December 18, 2012

“Republicans are once again demanding benefit cuts to pay for tax cuts”

Republicans are once again demanding benefit cuts to pay for tax cuts, and threatening to harm the economy unless they get their way.  House Speaker John Boehner’s recent “Plan B” proposal would extend tax cuts for people earning between $250,000 and $1 million, at a cost of $400 billion. At the same time, Republicans are demanding to cut Social Security COLAs through the so-called “Chained CPI.” We call on Congress to reject House Speaker Boehner’s proposal to extend tax cuts for people earning up to $1 million and support President Obama’s demand for at least $1.2 trillion in additional tax revenues. We further call on Congress to reject Republican hostage-taking and reject any cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare benefits, regardless of who proposes them.

Via Ezra Klein:

“….This fight is not going to be won by the president taking a step towards Boehner, Boehner taking a step toward the president, the president taking a step toward Boehner, Boehner taking a step toward the president and so forth until they meet in the middle,” says Damon Silvers, policy director at the AFL-CIO. “That hasn’t worked before. Boehner doesn’t take the steps. It will be won by the president clearly siding with the American people on tax fairness and preserving the safety net from benefit cuts.”

They also feel that the White House is weakening their hand if the negotiations fall apart and the president needs to win a battle for public support. “They ought to be in a position where they say to Boehner, ‘You’re the guy demanding benefit cuts and you’re using them to fund tax cuts on the rich,'” Silvers says. Cutting Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment by chaining CPI, he says, “muddies that position. It shouldn’t be muddied. It should be clear.”

Worse, the pushback from congressional Democrats over chained CPI is stronger than the administration expected – note the outspoken opposition from Sen. Dick Durbin, an Obama ally who’s often considered a barometer for pragmatic liberals….

A rough twenty-four hours for the White House? Giving the republicans the key to the store, backing up their truck to the loading dock for them, opening the door, loading the truck for them, and waving as they drive away with everything will make it a really rough four years for the White House.

Negotiating with political hostage takers isn’t supposed to be about handing them the club you beat them with in the last election.

Tallahassee: There’s a box of Twinkies in that grocery store. Not just any box of Twinkies, the last box of Twinkies that anyone will enjoy in the whole universe. Believe it or not, Twinkies have an expiration date. Some day very soon, Life’s little Twinkie gauge is gonna go… empty.

At the White House petition site:

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Nationalize the Twinkie industry

We the undersigned, hereby request Barack Obama to immediately Nationalize the Twinkie industry and prevent our nation from losing her sweet creamy center.

Created: Nov 16, 2012

Issues: Civil Rights and Liberties, Human Rights

Signatures needed by December 16, 2012 to reach goal of 25,000 22,422

Total signatures on this petition 2,578

Also at the White House petition site:

We petition the Obama Administration to:

Ban Big Labor Boss Richard Trumka from the W.H. for destroying great companies like Hostess and killing 18,000+ jobs!

The Hostess company has been forced to shut its doors because of an employee strike that crippled its operations. With Hostess closing, over 18,000 people will be out of work.

Big Labor Boss Richard Trumka heads up the union responsible for this. Trumka boasts he visits the White House two to three times a week. Shouldn’t he be protecting his members instead?

Now, more than 18,000 people will be out of work as Hostess Brands is forced to liquidate due to a prolonged strike by union workers.

It’s time to ban Richard Trumka from the White House until he starts protecting workers, and stops playing politics.

Created: Nov 16, 2012

Issues: Economy, Job Creation, Labor

Signatures needed by December 16, 2012 to reach goal of 25,000 24,440

Total signatures on this petition 560

Because workers should never expect that our corporate masters actually pay decent wages.

It looks like Twinkie nationalization is winning.

Via Twitter:

Paula Poundstone ‏@paulapoundstone

There is no justice in this world if Hostess goes down while Little Debbie lives on. 11:33 PM – 16 Nov 12

Exactly.

Who is responsible?:

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Hostess Brands Inc.

November 16, 2012

What’s happening with Hostess Brands is a microcosm of what’s wrong with America, as Bain-style Wall Street vultures make themselves rich by making America poor. Crony capitalism and consistently poor management drove Hostess into the ground, but its workers are paying the price. These workers, who consistently make great products Americans love and have offered multiple concessions, want their company to succeed. They have bravely taken a stand against the corporate race-to-the-bottom. And now they and their communities are suffering the tragedy of a needless layoff. This is wrong. It has to stop. It’s wrecking America.

Uh, yep.

And the usual suspects blame unions and workers.

Here’s an even better spokesman for the Occupy movement than the one I featured at Monday night’s event when Obama came to St. Louis. Molloff was fiery, but she made some outrageous sounding claims without taking the time to explain herself. Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO spells out what he thinks the movement is about and what he believes the Occupiers should call for. His thoughts are not served up with jalapeno sauce, but they are hearty, healthy fare.

Because Labor Day messages about the meaning of the holiday shouldn’t all come from corporate owned media outlets and their talking heads:

Richard Trumka, President, AFL-CIO: Hi, I’m Rich Trumka, wishing you and your working family a very happy Labor Day, two thousand eleven.

Labor Day’s the one time of year when we stop and take a moment to recognize the value of work and all who do it. It’s when we honor the electrical workers who’ve got the east coast power back on after Hurricane Irene, the teachers and coaches who educate our children and help keep them on the right path, and the bus drivers who get us to work each day.

It’s a time when we think about our own work, how we help build our communities and make America strong and how proud we are of the work that we do.

It’s also a time to think about the millions of men and women who’ve lost their jobs and spent weeks, months, even years struggling to get back to work.

This Labor Day I want to thank you for your activism to improve the lives of working families and to ask you if you can commit to doing even more. Will you pledge today to join me in waging a massive America wants to work campaign for good jobs?

Together, as activists, it’s our job to demand that our leaders , local and state officials, Congress and the President take big bold action now to create good jobs and to put America back to work.

So, today, right now, pledge to be even more active than you’ve been in the past and to help lead the America wants to work campaign to put America back to work.

You can sign the pledge by e-mail or online at AFL-CIO dot org. Or you can get out your mobile phone now and text pledge to 235246. We’ll keep you informed about the America wants to work campaign and when and how you can make a difference.

Thank you brothers and sisters. Thank you for the work that you do and have a happy Labor Day.

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO:

…but to our friends, the leaders in every level of government who aren’t afraid to stand up for workers, well we want them to know that so long as they stand with working people the American labor movement will always, and I mean always stand with them. [applause]

And then there’s that other group. Those fair weather friends who can’t seem to decide, quite frankly, which side they’re on. I’m talkin’ about politicians who love to have our help come election time. They love to see us makin’ those door knocks, those telephone calls and passin’ stuff out on their behalf, and tellin’ all our members how they ought to jump up and down and vote for them. But then they seem to forget about us after the votes are counted. Now you know who I mean. They’ve been in the news a lot lately. They’re the ones who say that they’re all for health care reform so long as it doesn’t offend the insurance companies and the drug companies. They get those big contributions from both and then they pretend this is somehow about principle, that they just happen to be defendin’ those big companies.

They’re the same people who say that the way to pay for health care isn’t to tax the rich, it’s to tax our health care benefits. They’re the ones who lack the guts to tell the truth. That the only way that we’re ever gonna get a handle on the health care crisis is by creating a public system that puts people before profits, not the other way around. [applause]

Well…, we need to send them a special message. That is, you may have forgotten what labor, the labor movement did for you when you got elected, but, by God, we’re not gonna forget. And if you stab us in the back on the Employee Free Choice Act and health care and a bunch of other things don’t you dare, don’t you dare ask for our support next year, whenever you’re running. [applause] We need people who stand up for workers. [applause]….

[emphasis added]

Are you listening, Claire? You got to dance with them what brung you.