As president of the 12.5-million-member AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka addressed his organization's legislative priorities and goals during his conversation with David Rubenstein. Trumka analyzed current and future trade agreements, including the recently-introduced USMCA, which he said his union would not support in its current form, as Mexico would need to prove it will enforce its labor reforms and raise wages for its workers. When asked about AFL-CIO's involvement in the 2020 presidential election, Trumka described AFL-CIO's plans to have candidates address groups of union members so they could get a better understanding of where each candidate stands on union and labor policies. Trumka also offered his thoughts on the state of the economy, warning that, “The rules of this economy are designed for the people at the top to do exceptionally well. The people in the middle, not so much, and the people at the bottom, not so much... Unless the rules [of capitalism and democracy] get changed and we can bring everybody along, we are in jeopardy of imploding."
View news coverage of the Signature Event featuring Richard Trumka here.
