New Leadership on Display at AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh

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By Evan McLaughlin
Political Director

En español

The 2009 AFL-CIO National Convention played host to a celebration of Labor’s political successes from the last election and the planning of the future for America’s working families under new national leadership in both the Labor Movement and the White House.

President Barack Obama and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis were among the speakers who addressed the AFL-CIO delegation at the Pittsburgh convention. Both credited the power of unions for electing a President whose administration promises to force reforms that rebuild the middle class, like a public option for health care and the Employee Free Choice Act.

“When organized Labor succeeds, the middle class succeeds. And when the middle class succeeds, the United States of America succeeds,” President Obama said. “Labor is not part of the problem. Labor is part of the solution.”

The convention also featured discussions about key policies to help America’s working families, such as supporting comprehensive reform of health care and immigration, fair trade, public schools and the creation of new jobs through a second stimulus package.

“Even though organized labor didn’t get America into this mess, brothers and sisters, we are the people who are going to get us out of this mess,” said Richard Trumka, who was elected the new President of the AFL-CIO.

Trumka grew up in nearby Pennsylvania coal country. He became a labor lawyer and then the head of the United Mine Workers of America before serving as Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO. Among his priorities are to make the Labor Movement more attractive to younger workers.

“We need to change our approach to organizing and representation to meet the needs of the new generation of workers,” he said.

Trumka takes over as President for John Sweeney, who retired after serving for decades with the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union before that. Among Sweeney’s accomplishments was his support for building Central Labor Councils into powerful forces to effect local and regional changes for workers.

“My legacy is all of you who have built a bigger, stronger Labor Movement,” Sweeney said.