Bloomingdale, Snyder Elected to Top Posts of Pa. AFL-CIO; George Named President Emeritus
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Richard W. Bloomingdale was elected president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO by delegates to the state federation’s convention last week in Pittsburgh. He succeeds William George, who retired after 20 years in the top post. Frank Snyder was elected secretary-treasurer.
Bloomingdale served as Pennsylvania AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer since 1994. Prior to that, he was state political and legislative director for AFSCME Council 13. He also held several offices in AFSCME Local 449. Bloomingdale told the delegates workers today are ”facing the toughest economic challenges since the formation of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.”
These difficult challenges present historic opportunities for all of us to secure greater progress for all workers. Labor must continue to lead in the struggle for good jobs now and in giving all workers the strong voice they need and deserve to build a better a life for their families and their communities. Together we will build an economy that works for all not just the few.
Snyder is a former United Steelworkers (USW) organizer and labor educator and former president of USW Local 8148. More recently he was the national AFL-CIO’s state director for Pennsylvania.
George, who was named president emeritus, started his career as a union activist with USW Local 1211, in 1960 in Aliquippa, Pa., and served in numerous union leadership positions before joining the union’s international staff at USW District 20 in 1971. For more on George, see this profile from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney: Solidarity Is Our Way of Life
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| AFL-CIO President John Sweeney gives his final keynote to convention delegates. |
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| Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George (above) and former Pittsburgh Steeler Franco Harris (below) help open the AFL-CIO Convention. |
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With the convening of the 26th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention this afternoon in Pittsburgh, nearly 2,000 delegates, alternates and guests took part in the formal opening ceremony and paid tribute to retiring AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. Following greetings by Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George, Jack Shea, president of the Allegheny County [Pittsburgh] Labor Council, and former Pittsburgh Steelers player Franco Harris, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka welcomed everyone, noting how great it is to be in Pittsburgh, “the city of bridges.”
And bridges are the perfect illustration of what we’ll be talking about over the next few days. Bridges that connect diverse people, diverse unions, diverse communities and diverse nations. Bridges to cross together, so we can turn around America….Some of the bridges America needs have been burnt—destroyed by years of a rampant corporate agenda embraced by the Bush administration. It’s hard to overstate just how damaging those years have been.
Our unions and the workers we represent are suffering in a historic collapse. But at the very same time, we have historic opportunities. New bridges with a new administration, a new Congress and rivers of hope flowing through the people of our country. Our Convention has a theme for today: We are many, we are one.
That’s our power—and it’s our joy.
