AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka He told Jonathan Swan in an interview for “Axios on HBO” that he wished President Biden had not canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, because it would cost some well-paid union work.
Why it’s important: Organized work is crucial for the Biden coalition. But there are major tensions between environmentalists, the president’s team dealing with climate change and some parts of the labor movement.
- The North American International Workers Union said Keystone’s decision will cost 1,000 existing jobs in unions and 10,000 jobs projected in construction.
- “The Workers’ International was right, ”Trumka said.
Between lines: Trumka said he believed Biden had learned a lesson from his Keystone announcement and hoped the president would combine any future decision that would kill union jobs with simultaneous, specific announcements about how those jobs would be replaced.
- “If you destroy 100 jobs in Greene County, Pennsylvania, where I grew up, and you create 100 jobs in California, it’s useless for those 100 families,” Trumka said.
- “If you’re looking at a pipeline and you say we’ll leave it, now what do you do to create the same well-paid jobs in that area?”
- Trumka also seemed uncomfortable (pausing for a few seconds and avoiding the question) when asked if he was comfortable with Biden’s plan to ban fracking on federal lands.
- White House spokesman Vedant Patel said: “President Biden has proposed transformative investments in infrastructure that will not only create millions of good union jobs, but will also help combat the climate crisis.”
The summary: Trumka, who began his career as a coal miner, noted that he will have no patience for promises of recycling programs as a consolation for union workers forced to quit their jobs.
- “You know, when they fired me from the Pennsylvania mines, they told us they would train us to be computer programmers.”
- “And I said, ‘Where are the computer programmer’s jobs?’ “Uh, they’re in Oklahoma, they’re in Las Vegas and they’re here.” And I said, “So in other words, what we’re going to be will be unemployed miners and computer programmers.”
People “love where they live and they love the people in that area, “Trumka said.” And for them, this is home. And that is their culture. “
- “I think what is not understood enough in the country, especially in DC politics, is that this culture is very, very important to the people who live there.”
Editor’s Note: Updates with White House commentary.