Richard Trumka, President Of The AFL-CIO, Dies At 72

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labor union and former president of the United Mine Workers of America, passed away at the age of 72.

Rise To Prominence: Trumka was born in 1949 in Nemacolin, Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh. His father was a coal miner and Trumka worked in the mines in his youth to earn money to finance his education. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1971 and graduated from Villanova University School of Law in 1974.

Upon graduating, Trumka moved to Washington, D.C., to become a staff attorney for the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). In 1982, he was elected as the union's president, a position that he held until 1995.

Under Trumka's leadership, UMWA members conducted a successful nine-month strike against the Pittston Coal Company in 1989 and a nationwide strike against Peabody Coal in 1993.

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On A Larger Stage: At the end of his UWMA presidency, he became secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO and was elected president of the union in 2009 following John Sweeney's retirement. In his years at the union leader, Trumka spoke out against the wealth gap that divided the nation.

"Corporations now have more rights than people — not equal rights, more rights," he said in a 2019 interview with Reuters. "Over the last 20 years, the top 1% has accumulated $21 trillion in wealth and the bottom 50% has lost $900 billion in wealth. The inequality gap grows and grows — that's putting us on a trajectory for an implosion of the system."

But Trumka also led the AFL-CIO at a time when union membership ranks decreased while the U.S. manufacturing base evaporated as companies offshored their operations into other countries offering cheaper labor.

rumka and the union overwhelmingly endorsed Democratic candidates for elected office — President Joe Biden called him a "very close personal friend" — but he also worked with President Donald Trump on the creation of the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The cause of death was not immediately disclosed, but Reuters reported Trumka died of a heart attack, while Biden said Trumka was on a camping trip with his grandsons when he passed away.

Photo: Linh Do / Flickr Creative Commons.