1. Richard Louis Trumka was an American attorney and organized labor leader.
19 Facts About Richard Trumka
1. 2.
Richard Trumka served as president of the United Mine Workers from 1982 to 1995, and then was secretary-general of the AFL-CIO from 1995 to 2009.
3.
Richard Trumka was elected president of the AFL-CIO on September 16,2009, at the federation's convention in Pittsburgh, and served in that position until his death.
4.
Richard Trumka received a Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1971 and a Juris Doctor from Villanova University School of Law in 1974.
5.
From 1974 to 1979, Trumka was a staff attorney with the United Mine Workers of America at their headquarters in Washington, DC He was elected as the International Executive Board Member of UMWA from District 4 in 1981 and became president of the UMWA in 1982.
6.
The union officially endorsed the CEP Annual Conference, and Richard Trumka was the keynote speaker in 1983.
7.
Richard Trumka approved excused absences for women to attend CEP conferences and sent letters to local unions urging them to send women to the conferences.
8.
Richard Trumka was asked to respond to the possibility that some coal companies might hire permanent replacement workers.
9.
Besides his domestic labor activities, Richard Trumka established an office that raised US mineworker solidarity with the miners in South Africa while they were fighting apartheid.
10.
Richard Trumka further helped organize the US Shell boycott, which challenged the multinational Royal Dutch Shell Group for its continued business dealings in South Africa.
11.
Richard Trumka co-chaired the China Currency Coalition, an alliance of industry, agriculture, services, and worker organizations whose stated mission is to support US manufacturing.
12.
Richard Trumka invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during the government's grand jury investigation and a congressional panel, and was never charged with any crimes.
13.
On July 1,2008, Richard Trumka delivered a speech denouncing racism in the 2008 presidential election.
14.
Richard Trumka's video was called "surely the first YouTube moment in the history" of the labor movement by ProPublica journalist Alec MacGillis.
15.
Richard Trumka was named one of Esquire magazine's Americans of the Year in 2011.
16.
In March 2013, Richard Trumka confirmed that organized labor would make an effort to work more closely with groups trying to aid immigrant workers, as the national debate on minimum wage and fair employment in the restaurant industry heated up.
17.
On February 4,2018, Richard Trumka was announced to be the first recipient of the World Peace Prize for Labor Leadership because he has dedicated his life to the cause of labor and labor rights, seeking equality, and defending the rights of working men and women.
18.
On July 1,2022, the White House announced that Richard Trumka would be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
19.
Richard Trumka died from a heart attack on August 5,2021, at age 72.