AFL-CIO Vows to Bridge Racial Divisions
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
Ed. Note: We know many of you might have objections to the details of this plan, but we thought it was important for you to know it was happening. Food for thought.
Via People’s World:
With the country facing serious questions of racial justice—and bigoted political rhetoric intended to divide people—the labor movement hopes to foster dialogue and solidarity, leaders of the AFL-CIO and affiliated unions say.
Speaking and answering questions on April 14 at the annual conference of the United Association for Labor Education, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka condemned anti-immigrant statements by Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump and expressed support for Black Lives Matter and other groups challenging the status quo.
He also put racial justice at the top of the national union agenda.
“Race and justice aren’t a side project of the AFL-CIO. They are at the core – the very core – of who we are as a labor movement now and in the future. Because it will define us,” Trumka stated.
And he told one questioner the labor movement is the best vehicle for the national discussion on race “because we can sit down as brothers and sisters and we do not castigate people.” Having the discussion, Trumka added, “is liberating” for unionists, black and white.
Trumka was followed in the forum in D.C. by members of the federation’s Labor Commission on Racial and Economic Justice, who cited ways unions are taking on racism within their own organizations and in the broader society. Their presentation was one of the first since the commission began hearings around the country a year ago.
“I gotta be honest,” said Trumka. “Race is subject that makes a lot of people – black and white people – uncomfortable and sometimes resentful.”
But, he said, “We can’t just face the easy stuff and ignore the hard things.”
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