Proud of Trumka, Main
Everyone in your coverage area should take great pride in the continued ascendency of Greene County natives Richard L. Trumka and Joseph A. Main – who humbly started out as local coal miners – on the national labor stage. Trumka is unopposed in his quest to move from secretary-treasurer to president of the AFL-CIO, where he will oversee 56 unions representing 11 million workers. That’s quite an impressive accomplishment for a third-generation miner from Nemacolin, but it’s to be expected of someone whose passion for helping workers led him to become president of the United Mine Workers in 1982 at age 33. Main of Waynesburg has been tapped by President Barack Obama to head the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. With 22 years of experience heading the United Mine Workers’ Occupational Health and Safety department, Main is uniquely qualified as the nation’s top administrator of federal mine safety and health standards.
The national labor landscape is being reshaped by the continued advance of Trumka and Main, who bring working-class values and perspectives to the table. More importantly, their lifetime commitments to advancing the causes of workplace safety and the fair treatment of workers gives promise that a new day is dawning on the American labor front.
As one of their contemporaries and as a fellow Greene Countian, I am proud to see Rich Trumka and Joe Main continuing to press forward as standard-bearers for the cause to which they’ve devoted their lives. I hope you share my pride in their latest success.
Bill DeWeese
House Majority Whip
Waynesburg