Quotations from Vital Speeches of the Day: #4 - Richard Trumka on what labor wants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since it is Labor Day, I’m going to quote the conclusion of a speech by Richard Trumka (July 24, 1949 – August 5, 2021), who was President of the AFL-CIO from 2009 to 2021. He gave it on October 22, 2019 at the Alabama AFL-CIO convention in Montgomery and it was titled United we win, divided we fall:

 

“This labor movement is tired of giving in. And we are going to win a new day. We’ll march for it. We’ll organize for it. We’ll fight for it. Brothers and sisters, are you ready to fight? Are you ready to fight?

 

We’re going to fight for higher pay. We’re going to fight for better health care. We’re going to fight for a secure retirement. And we’re going to fight for an economy where every worker – every single worker – has the freedom to form a union and bargain collectively.

 

We’ve earned it, brothers and sisters. We teach, heal and make. We package, print, and bake. We put food on the table. We care for the sick. We build the cars and mine the coal. We serve our nation with dignity and pride. We stand tall. We don’t run and hide. We wake our country up every single day, and we tuck her into bed at night!

 

We are the American labor movement and we will not – we will not – be denied! Thank you, brothers and sisters! God bless you!”

 

That speech was published on pages 332 to 335 in the December 2019 issue of Vital Speeches of the Day magazine.

 

The 1910 image of strike pickets came from the Library of Congress.