Credit: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA
Press Event for the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act
Washington (AP) – Richard Trumka, the powerful president of the AFL-CIO labor union, has died at age 72, Democratic leaders said Thursday.
News of his death was announced by President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Trumka had been AFL-CIO president since 2009, after serving as the organization’s secretary-treasurer for 14 years.
The working people of America have lost a fierce warrior when we needed him most.
We will remember Rich Trumka forever. pic.twitter.com/9oLXsiM5d5
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) August 5, 2021
“The working people of America have lost a fierce warrior at a time when we needed him most,” Schumer said from the Senate floor.
Biden called Trumka “a close friend” who was “more than the head of AFL-CIO.” He apologized for showing up late to a meeting with Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander civil rights leaders, saying he had just learned Trumka had died.
Further details of Trumka’s death were not immediately available. The AFL-CIO did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Trumka oversaw a union with more than 12.5 million members, according to the AFL-CIO’s website.
