Richard L. Trumka

Richard L. Trumka, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, praised the work of the GCIU and its allies for the campaign at Quebecor World to "bring one of the largest printing companies in the world to justice."

Addressing GCIU convention delegates on Oct. 11, Trumka also painted a bleak portrait of the Bush administration's record during his first four years as president–a record that will get even worse over the next four years.

Trumka said he applauds the GCIU "for having the vision to take on an innovative campaign to regain union density in your industry." He praised the effort to go after multiple Quebecor plants instead of trying to organize one plant at a time and "subjecting the workers to the meat-grinder process of the National Labor Relations Board and other boards."

Trumka scored Quebecor World's "history and current practice of intimidating and threatening and coercing and even firing workers who dare–dare to stand up for themselves and their co-workers."

Now, he said, "GCIU members at dozens of Quebecor plants across the United States and Canada have demanded from management a new relationship, one that allows non-union workers to organize free from management harassment and intimidation. And thousands of GCIU members have worn stickers on the job and thousands more have demonstrated at Ikea and Kohl's stores demanding that those retailers tell their printer–Quebecor–to respect workers' rights."

Trumka said the GCIU went even further when it brought together printing unions representing Quebecor workers around the globe for the solidarity conference last December in Memphis, Tenn.

GCIU pushed still harder and brought Larry Johnson from Quebecor's Olive Branch, Miss., plant and Carl Rogers from Quebecor's Covington, Tenn., plant to "confront Quebecor's executives at the company's shareholder meeting on their blatant union busting," he said.

"Those workers stood toe-to-toe with Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister of Canada, who chairs Quebecor's board of directors, and they demanded justice for their co-workers. Justice for their co-workers means justice for all of us in both of our countries," Trumka said.

Trumka said "there is real power in this kind of campaign. . . . We are going to win at Quebecor because it's the exact kind of campaign that America's labor movement must do more if we hope to organize on a much larger scale than before and regain the power that workers in America need to win better pay and better working conditions and dignity on the job."

Fighting back to restore morality

Urging union members to fight back against the policies of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, Trumka said "the only war that these guys know how to really pursue" is "the war on working families."

Trumka said the election campaign debates demonstrated that "for George W. Bush, fabrication, misrepresentation, and prevarication are not a part-time recreation. They're a full-time occupation for him."

In a "rare moment of honesty" before the election, Trumka said, Bush admitted he miscalculated the cost of the war in Iraq and how long it would take. Early in the war, Bush said it would cost $2 billion. Now, the price tag is approaching $200 billion, Trumka noted.

But Bush has "miscalculated" in many other areas, Trumka said. Bush "promised us 5 million new jobs, and, so far, he's only 6 million short of the promise that he made," Trumka said.

Bush "miscalculated the impact of his economic policies because he adamantly refused to enforce our trade laws and because he took your tax dollars and held seminars and conferences on how to send our jobs offshore," Trumka said, adding: "He's destroyed 2.7 million manufacturing jobs that keep this economy strong, while the few jobs that are being created are low-paying, no-benefit jobs at Wal-Mart."

"He miscalculated the effects of his domestic policies, and more than 5 million more people lost their health insurance" and "more than 4 million people were plunged into poverty," Trumka said. Meanwhile, prices for gasoline and milk and heating oil are skyrocketing, day care has gone up $2,000 since 2001, and health care costs have risen nearly 40 percent, Trumka said.

Every time Bush "miscalculates," Trumka said, "we pay. We pay with our jobs. We pay with our health care. We pay with our lives. Well, we deserve better."

Trumka said that unions and their members have a "special obligation" to the unemployed–to those without health care, to children living in poverty, and to children who can't afford to pursue needed education.

"That obligation is that we have to work harder than we've ever worked before," Trumka said. "And we have to fight harder than we've ever fought before to lift up a new America from the George Bush America," Trumka said.