Trumka: We won’t quit until EFCA becomes the law of the land

Despite multiple reports of EFCA’s death by both Republicans and Democrats, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka continues to put on a positive face. At the recent UAW convention in Detroit, Trumka stated that his group and others “won’t quit until the EFCA becomes the law of the land.” He also pressed the UAW members to intensify lobbying efforts with their member of Congress in support of Employee Free Choice Act, labor’s top legislative priority which once looked like a shoe-in for passage before stalling in Congress.

Trumka also took the opportunity to praise “the leadership of President Obama,” and called the administration one in which “understand that we cannot have a middle class in this country without a strong domestic automobile industry and without strong union contracts.” This is about a week after labor and White House officials- usually strong allies- traded shots following the Arkansas Democratic primary. The White House was backing incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln, while most unions were backing her primary challenger Bill Halter. Upset with Lincoln’s opposition to EFCA, unions spent in the neighborhood of $10 million in a losing effort. Following the election, a White House official declared the unions had just “flushed $10 million down the toilet,’ while a union official stated they are not “an arm of the Democratic Party.” Since that time, the two sides have somewhat made-up and there was no evidence of hard feelings toward the administration in Trumka’s speech.

Also, at the convention, UAW president Ron Gettelfinger gave his last address to the group he led for eight years. The New York Times has an interesting write-up on some dissenters within the UAW ranks who feel that union has gone too far in concessions. One of those dissenters is Gary Walkowicz, a Dearborn, Michigan plant worker, who led a drive against last summer’s concessions and is running for president. It will be interesting to see who ends up with Gettelfinger’s old job.