Trumka: AFL-CIO Strongly Committed to Diversity

by James Parks, Sep 13, 2009

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.

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Pennsylvania Union Members Donate Time, Labor, Money to Help Children

by James Parks, Jul 31, 2009

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker (center) cuts a ribbon to open a new picnic pavilion at the Auberle Center. She is joined by (from left) Allegheny County Labor Council President Jack Shea; Jack Brooks, executive secretary-treasurer of the Greater Pennsylvania Council of Carpenters; Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President William George; Joe Delale, AFL-CIO community services liaison; Judge David Wecht; the Rev. Jack O’Malley; and Auberle CEO John Lydon.

Union members care about their communities, and one of the biggest ways they show it is through the Community Services Network, which provides services and assistance to those in need. Last week, the Pennsylvania union movement showed its heart when members dedicated a new union-built picnic pavilion at the Auberle Center, a faith-based agency dedicated to helping abused, neglected and troubled children and families.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker was on hand to dedicate the pavilion, constructed free-of-charge by members and apprentices of the Carpenters union. Some of the youth at the center helped build the pavilion and two have asked to join the Carpenter’s apprenticeship program, says Joe Delale, community services liaison for the Allegheny County (Pa.) Labor Council.   

Holt Baker praised the union members’ generosity:

I am reminded of a quote from Bobby Kennedy who said:

Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.

It is in small acts that greatness is truly borne, and the work you have done here today reflects that greatness.

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