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Trumka: AFL-CIO Strongly Committed to Diversity |
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| At the AFL-CIO Diversity Conference today, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka pledged the AFL-CIO will recommit to embracing diversity at every level. |
The union movement is becoming more diverse and the new leadership of the AFL-CIO is committed to working harder to reach out to young workers, people of color, women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka said today at the AFL-CIO National Summit on Diversity. Trumka told the more than 500 participants the federation’s commitment to diversity is on its way to becoming a reality:
I’m here to tell you that we must change. That is why we’re seeking out and encouraging young people, people of color, people of all backgrounds and beliefs and sexual orientation. These are the labor leaders of tomorrow.
Trumka pledged the AFL-CIO will recommit to embracing diversity at every level. He credited AFL-CIO President John Sweeney for his commitment and leadership to create more diversity in the union movement.
John always has been inclusive. Under his watch our movement has grown more diverse. We salute him for his caring spirit and dogged determination to defend workers at every station.
Trumka reminded the civil rights activists that our drive for diversity is more than just about our current members, but about our future and potential members. That’s why your outreach to younger workers is so important.
Your unions are the testing ground for innovative new ways to reach new workers.
He pointed to the efforts of several unions and state federations to ensure diversity:
- The Bricklayers (BAC) encouraged their locals to develop community partnerships, and the BAC International Masonry Institute developed a program to mentor high school students.
- AFSCME created a youth leadership development program that included a highly successful Next Wave Conference.
- The South Carolina and the Massachusetts AFL-CIOs sponsored youth conferences and workshops, and Massachusetts has designated a board position for a young worker.
- The San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council developed an intern program with San Diego State University and is actively seeking young members for its council.
- The United Steelworkers (USW) expanded its executive board to include more women members.
- The Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the Utility Workers (UWUA) expanded their human rights committees and developed training sessions on expanding diversity.
- The Communications Workers of America (CWA) added four members to their board to include more women and people of color.
- The Ironworkers expanded their apprenticeship program to recruit minorities, and added an English-as-a-Second-Language component.
- The Missouri and the Connecticut AFL-CIOs added six or seven new members to the board, making their governing bodies more diverse.
- The state federations in Washington State, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and several central labor councils included members of AFL-CIO constituency groups in their leadership.
Trumka says the “real change occurs at the local level and I will encourage this grassroots regeneration in every way that I can.”
As a matter of policy, as a matter of principle, we’ll make our movement more inclusive, more welcoming, more like the workers we represent, more like the democratic movement that we are.
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That we have a ‘diverse’ workforce in this country goes without saying. And everyone who chooses to leave their homeland and come to this country to make a ‘new life’ for themselves deserves to be accepted for whatever and whomever they are (providing, of course, they are not criminals fleeing prosecution)…as long as they understand that to live in the USA is a privilege and not a right…as long as they realize and respect the fact that we speak English in this country and to make their way here they, too, must speak and understand OUR language and as long as they come here LEGALLY.