Trumka: Union Votes Can Beat False Populism and
Economic Treason

By Mike Hall
AFL-CIO Blog
September 14, 2010

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/09/14/trumka-union-votes-can-beat-false-populism-and-economic-treason/

When U.S., corporations sit on more than $800 billion
without creating jobs, when banks hoard more than $1
trillion in profits without lending to small businesses
and consumers  and when health insurance companies with
tens of billions in profits demand huge premium
increases, there are only two words to describe such
greed says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

"Economic treason!"

Addressing the Ohio AFL-CIO convention in Columbus
today, Trumka called on union members to mobilize and
rally behind "economic patriots" in a "knock down drag-
out" fight against the "false populism and name
calling" that Tea Party and Republican leaders  like
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) are
employing in this fall's elections.

We know what Rep. Boehner will do if he gets the
speaker's job-because he's told us!  He'll privatize
and cut Social Security, protect the corporations that
send our jobs overseas, slash taxes for the super-rich.
There will be no more extensions of unemployment
benefits. No jobs legislation. No infrastructure
spending. No Davis Bacon.  No retirement security. No
health care.

Speaking specifically about Ohio races, Trumka told
union members it will be their work, jobsite
leafleting, neighborhood walks and phone calls that
will re-elect Gov. Ted Strickland, send Lt. Gov. Lee
Fisher to the U.S. Senate and re-elect Rep. Betty Jo
Sutton to the U.S. House.

He warned  that if  Republican candidates, John Kasich
for governor, Rob Portman for U.S. Senate and Tom
Ganely for U.S. House, are successful on Nov. 2, it
equals one ugly future for America!  It's a bleak
vision of a weak nation in decline.

Brothers and sisters, our vision for America is on the
line.  It's a vision of a better, stronger future, a
renewal of the American Dream-the dream that all of us
can earn a fair portion of the good things in life,
time with our families, an education for our children,
a voice on the job, a comfortable retirement-even if
we're not rich.

Trumka's Ohio action followed a busy day in Nevada
where he spoke to the Bricklayers (BAC) convention,
took part in a jobs rally in conjunction with the
Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) "It's About Jobs"
bus tour and handed-out worksite leaflets at a
construction site and "taxi pit" (see photo) at
McCarran Airport in Las Vegas .

Mike Reinecke, the AFL-CIO Labor 2010 Nevada state
director, reports that at the 5:45 a.m. leafleting,
Trumka, Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) and gubernatorial
candidate Rory Reid were accompanied by several union
leaders from the unions on the project.

They explained how both Titus and Sen. Harry Reid (D-
Nev.) passed legislation that brought more than $250
million for critical infrastructure to Nevada and how
without Reid's help the McCarran Airport construction
project would not have received the $97 million in tax
exemptions, which allowed work to continue and saved
the jobs of those workers.

At the BAC convention Trumka said:

    Its 50 days until Election Day. And there are races
    all over this country that we can win, that we're
    going to win if we do what we know how to do. It
    won't be easy.  But we understand hard work. We
    know the anti-worker politicians, and the
    corporations, and the ideologues don't want the
    union vote. They want us to stay home, frustrated
    and angry at Washington.

But that's not going to happen.  Not on our watch!
Because it's going to come down to us and we're going
to make the difference-race by race, a few thousand
votes, a few hundred votes.  Those will be the
margins-the difference we make.

It's going to be your vote, your members, your worksite
leafleting, your neighborhood walks, your commitment to
Labor 2010.

Click here to read Trumka's Las Vegas speech:

http://www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/sp09132010.cfm

and here for the Columbus address

http://www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/sp09142010.cfm

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