Mourning Alongside Labor Following AFL-CIO President Trumka’s Death

A powerful voice for workers went silent Aug. 5 with the death of Richard Trumka, who rose from humble roots in the Pennsylvania coal mines to lead the AFL-CIO.

“For Rich, it was always about doing right by working people –fighting for and protecting their wages, their safety, their pensions, and their ability to build a good, decent, honorable middle-class life,” President Biden said. “It was about workers improving their own lives and building worker power together.And it was about America itself. It was about the American worker being the heart of our economic might and dynamism.”

Trumka was replaced by his No. 2, Liz Shuler, an IBEW member who had served as secretary-treasurer of the labor federationsince 2009. “Congratulations to Liz Shuler on being elected President of the AFL-CIO,” President Biden said on Twitter.