AFL-CIO Leadership Pledges Support for Local Movement

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)"I've got your back," new State Federation/Central Labor Council Advisory Committee Chair Randi Weingarten (President of the AFT) promised a packed room of local activists at Saturday's "Building a Movement for Shared Prosperity" meeting with hundreds of state federation, area and central labor council leaders. "But I'm also going to press you to make it work. We have more power than anyone in the Koch world; that's why they're attacking us so hard and why we must keep fighting." AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka drew a rousing round of applause when he promised to "push for the full payment of per capita to central labor bodies and state feds." In an open Q&A session with the local leadership, the AFL-CIO's top leadership answered questions about ongoing battles over voter suppression, health care, and proposed accountability rules for local bodies. "This is where the labor movement really shines," Shuler said. "What you’re doing at the local level is really moving the ball forward.” Trumka’s choice for the AFL-CIO’s next executive vice-president, Tefere Gebre -- currently executive director of California’s Orange County Federation of Labor -- was even more explicit. “I’m one of you,” Gebre said. “I understand what you do on a daily basis. At the eighth floor of the AFL-CIO, you will have someone who understands you.” "Given the magnitude and ferocity of the ongoing attacks on working people, solidarity in the local labor movement is more critical than ever," said Metro Washington Council President Jos Williams. "It's heartening to know that our leadership recognizes the unprecedented challenges we face on the local level and that they're renewing and expanding their commitment to work with us to move forward together." photos: Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams (left) moderated a discussion among state and local AFL-CIO leaders and the federation's top officers, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler (photo by Steve Share); local leaders (photo by Bill Burke/Page One)