Meyer: Trumka had visible role in rubber industry history

The U.S. labor movement lost arguably its most visible figure when AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka died Aug. 5 of a heart attack. He was the leader of the nation's top labor federation and its roughly 12 million members spread across more than 50 member unions since 2009, after having been elected secretary-treasurer in 1995.

During his tenure as AFL-CIO president, he was unable to stop the slide in union membership in the U.S., as overall union membership dropped by roughly 1.5 percentage points to about 11 percent of the nation's work force. Looking just at the private sector, union representation is even weaker, at just 7 percent.

In recent years, detractors said the AFL-CIO wasn't spending enough resources on organizing efforts to bring in more members. Trumka had close ties to Democratic politicians—particularly President Biden—and tried to use his status as a Washington insider to support legislation that could boost the fortunes of workers and union members. He also worked with President Trump to overturn NAFTA and replace it with the U.S.-Mexico Canada Agreement, though he later called Trump "one of the most anti-worker presidents in American history."

During Trumka's earlier years in the labor movement, he was more the firebrand type of union leader, and as such he played a small but important role in rubber industry labor history. Still president of the United Mine Workers, he was a featured speaker at the 1995 United Rubber Workers special convention to vote on whether to merge with the larger United Steelworkers union.

He grew up in a coal mining town in Pennsylvania, the third generation of miners in his family. He worked in the mines before graduating college and law school, and was elected as the youngest president of the Mine Workers in 1982 at age 33. Under his leadership, the union waged a long strike in 1989 and 1990 against the Pittston Coal Group, which had cut health care benefits to retirees. After the long walkout, the benefits were restored.

That was just the background the URW leadership was looking for in recruiting Trumka to address the convention. The Rubber Workers had found that, by this time in the union's 60-year history, its numbers were too small to stand up to the top tire makers in a prolonged labor struggle. The "War of '94" with a number of U.S. tire manufacturers, particularly Bridgestone/Firestone, quickly drained the URW's strike fund and led it to a proposed merger with the larger, better-funded USW.

But the Rubber Workers were proud and enjoyed their autonomy, so the merger was no shoe-in. That's where Trumka came in. He fired up the convention like no other speaker, delivering an address stressing that very few unions could go it alone anymore. He told delegates that their vote wasn't just about them, but about the following generations of workers.

Trumka brought the convention to a frenzy, telling them a vote to merge with the Steelworkers was a vote to perpetuate the URW's history, reminding them what was at stake. "Make sure it's a strong union the next day and the day after that," he preached to the delegates. "You're not just Rubber Workers. What we are is union. What we are is family. What we are is brothers and sisters."

In the end, the URW delegates voted to merge with the Steelworkers by a slim, three-vote margin. There are few who would dispute that Trumka's throwback speech was a decisive factor in the outcome.

Meyer is Rubber News' editor. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @bmeyerRPN.