New AFL-CIO Head Takes Wall St. Bull by the Horns

BARBARA BOWEN: Time for labor to be militant. Newly elected AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka wants the economy to go pre-Reagan. And any company that resists has been put on notice.

Gathered with local labor leaders and members along with the other members of the AFL-CIO national leadership—Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler and Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker—during a rally Sept. 22 outside the New York Stock Exchange, Mr. Trumka said that the federation under his watch would make it a priority to help pass sweeping financial reforms in Congress that would impose stricter regulations for derivatives and hedge funds.

‘Can’t Be Left Unregulated’

“The financial system is a public trust that is not unlike our electric grid system: our whole economy depends on it working well,” he said. “It can’t be left unregulated like the deregulators of Wall Street really want it to because people get hurt.”

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang HEARD ON THE STREET: Newly elected AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, gathered with union members outside the New York Stock Exchange, warned that the financial industry could either join in labor’s efforts to restore regulation of financial markets or face resistance from unions both in the halls of Congress and in street protests. Mr. Trumka’s predecessor, John J. Sweeney, had joined labor leaders a year ago at the same spot to protest a proposed bail-out package for Wall Street firms suffering from a massive loss of revenue due to investments in the toxic sub-prime mortgage market. At the time, labor leaders warned against any bailout package that would not impose new regulations to keep financial institutions from making overly risky speculations and any plan that did not try to alleviate the unemployment and foreclosure problem.

Mr. Trumka said that the Obama Administration’s stimulus package would help to create some jobs, but that little has been done to re-establish the many financial regulations that were eliminated or weakened since Ronald Reagan became President in 1981. His message to Wall Street and lawmakers last week was that they stand “with us or against us” when it came to pushing such reforms.

‘Labor Will Fight You’

“If you lock out families wanting homes and businesses desperately needing capital to create jobs and new opportunities for families, if you take money from U.S. taxpayers and you spend it on more speculation instead of investing it in businesses that create jobs, if you lard your executives with bonuses and largesse while you’re squeezing families out of their homes with unfair lending, you better get ready because the American labor movement is going to fight you,” Mr. Trumka said. “We’re going to tell the truth about you, we’re going to fight you day and night until things change and we create an economy that works for every last American. That’s why we’re advocating new regulation to make sure that the financial sector is the servant of the real economy and not its master.”

The proclamation was greeted by hoots and hollers from union members, but when reporters asked for specifics of the plan, Mr. Trumka explained that much of “the fight” would be in the halls of the U.S. Congress and in state legislative houses to re-regulate the economy. He added that unions would mobilize their members to build support for those changes.

“We’ll educate our members and we’ll mobilize them and let them know so they can vote with their dollars as well as their feet for these companies that don’t want regulation and want to continue speculating as opposed to creating jobs,” he said.

Making Case At World Summit

Mr. Trumka added that during the G20 convention of world leaders in Pittsburgh, members of unions from all 20 countries present would be making their case for more robust global regulation, including a global tax on short-term investing.

“They’ll hear our point of view, they’ll hear where we coming from and they’ll probably see a lot of demonstrators in the process; I’m sure they will,” he said.

Professional Staff Congress President Barbara Bowen said she was encouraged by Mr. Trumka’s announcement outside the Stock Exchange, but noted that putting forth his agenda would take not only legislative work but also direct action and rank-andfile protests.

“You can do both, work with the House and the Senate and be in the street, but I think if labor’s going to be effective at this moment it’s going to have to be militant and organized and we’re going to have to be the leading voice against the notion that cuts in services or pensions or even cuts in our hopes for health care are inevitable,” she said.

‘Laid Out a Real Agenda’

Without discussing the specifics of the AFL-CIO’s plan for re-regulation of the finance markets, Ms. Bowen explained that labor leaders were encouraged when Mr. Trumka explained his agenda earlier at a board meeting of the New York City Central Labor Council before the downtown rally.

“He laid out a real agenda, which I thought was important,” she said. “He didn’t hesitate to lay out a set of his priorities—what’s going to be needed, what comes in what sequence—and I think that’s important for us to hear.”