US labor head to push healthcare, labor law reform

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* Trumka says will start lobby campaign soon

* Says health reform should break insurers' "stranglehold"

* Former coal miner to become head of AFL-CIO Wednesday

As President Barack Obama pushes for a deal on healthcare reform in Congress, the biggest U.S. labor federation is planning an intensive lobbying campaign to preserve the debate's most contentious proposal: a new government-run health insurance program.

The AFL-CIO's prospective new president, former Pennsylvania coal miner Richard Trumka, told Reuters in a weekend interview that he would start mobilizing the federation's 11 million members soon after he takes the AFL-CIO helm later this week.

The campaign will also lobby Congress to enact top-priority labor law reforms and seek to generate momentum for an aggressive effort to turn out the union vote in the 2010 congressional elections.

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INTERVIEW-US labor head to push healthcare, labor law reform | Reuters

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Richard Louis Trumka (born July 24, 1949) is an organized labor leader in the United States. He currently serves as the Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, a post to which he was elected in 1995. He previously was President of the United Mine Workers from 1982 to December 22, 1995.

From 1974 to 1979, Trumka was a staff attorney with the United Mine Workers at their headquarters in Washington, D.C. He was elected to the board of directors of UMWA District 4 in 1981 and became President of the United Mine Workers in 1982.

While President of the UMWA, Trumka led the successful nine-month strike against the Pittston Coal Company, which has been called a rallying symbol for the entire labor movement. A major issue in the dispute was Pittston's refusal to pay into the industrywide health and retirement fund created in 1950. Trumka encouraged non-violent civil disobedience to confront the company and relied on a sophisticated corporate campaign involving Wall Street investors.



Richard Trumka in 2004

Source: Wikipedia.com

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Rachel Maddow - Richard Trumka, Sec. Treasurer AFLCIO - Health Care



Rachel Maddow - Richard Trumka, Sec. Treasurer AFLCIO - Health Care