Richard Trumka
Richard L. Trumka grew up in the Pennsylvania coal fields during the 1960s. Trumka followed his father and grandfather into the mines and union advocacy. Working in the mining community, his leadership shone. He rose quickly through the ranks and in 1982 was elected the United Mine Workers of America's youngest president at age 32.
While serving his third term as president of the UMWA, Trumka ran for secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, as part of an insurgent campaign to reinvigorate the American labor movement. Elected in 1995, he was the youngest secretary-treasurer in AFL-CIO history. Trumka was re-elected for a third term to the office of secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO in December 2001.
As a member of the AFL-CIO executive council, Trumka is chairman of the strategic approaches committee, charged with assisting affiliated unions that seek assistance in achieving their strategic goals through collective bargaining. He also chairs the AFL-CIO finance committee and the AFL-CIO capital stewardship committee, which works to ensure workers' deferred wages are wisely invested to provide the best long-term benefits to America's working families.
Trumka announced his candidacy for the presidency of the AFL-CIO to replace retiring president John Sweeney in July. A change in the economic pecking order was the centerpiece of Trumka's message in kicking off his campaign. "In this economy, still manipulated by Wall Street, many Americans are struggling to have decent jobs with security and to simply survive. Unions are more important than ever because we speak up for the disadvantaged," Trumka said. "We can make their voice heard."
He pledged to engage workers in a bottom-up effort to strengthen unions, and to reach out to women and minorities to make the labor movement a reflection of the nation’s evolving workforce.
Trumka also pledged to go on a nationwide "listening tour" to learn firsthand what younger workers think about unions and how to make the labor movement more relevant to their lives. "I'm convinced," he said, "that if we sit down and begin to actually listen to what young workers are saying, we can find ways to earn their support…And from your collective vision will come a new generation of leaders who will change things for the better—a generation that will stand up for its beliefs, and stand down those who blindly resist change."
Richard Trumka's record of innovation and assertion, coupled with his commitment to reunify the splintered labor movement as he once did the fractious UMWA, has won him widespread support among leaders representing everyone from blue-collar workers to white-collar professionals.
Trumka received a bachelor's degree from Penn State University in 1971 and a law degree from Villanova University in 1974.
