AFL-CIO’s Trumka: “The American labor movement is in transition.”

Richard Trumka, as president of the AFL-CIO—a federation of 56 unions—is the figurative head of the American labor movement.

A mere two years after declaring the labor movement to be in a “crisis,” Trumka visited the Portland area in May to deliver the keynote address at a summit on union organizing.

During his speech, Trumka focused on building relationships with progressive allies to form “a complete, inseparable partnership.”

Here is a summary of his remarks via the Northwest Labor Press.

The American labor movement is in transition. And organizing has to be front, center, and back, for us to go forward.

Our labor movement is in transition in every way and at every level. We’ve got to reach out and join with those who share our values. We have to go back to our roots, back into the community, and we have to be part of the community and the community part of us. And to do that, we have to take a hard look at ourselves. The labor movement grows from the bottom up, not from Washington, D.C., down. Without central labor councils and local unions that are fully engaged in organizing and bringing us together with the community, it doesn’t happen.

We, each of us, have to become more professional, and quite frankly, more accountable. Sometimes we ignore the fact that our brothers and sisters aren’t holding up their end of the deal.  And we can’t do that any more, because we need everybody hitting on all eight cylinders if we’re going to succeed. And when one union for whatever reason lays back, the rest of us have to encourage them to come forward and carry their load, and to help us so that all of us can win.

When I say that we’re joining together with allies and likeminded partners, I really mean it. We’re committed to it. This isn’t a flavor of the month or a campaign slogan of the year. This is a fundamental of the labor movement — back to our roots, back to where we came from, the community.

This is transformative work, and it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s going to be long, hard work, and it’s going to have some setbacks. And trust me when I tell you this: Do not let the first disagreement with another group destroy a partnership. Don’t allow little stumbles to prevent us from seeing the big picture down the road — a complete, inseparable partnership with our progressive friends and allies.

You can read the rest of Trumka’s remarks here.