PRESIDENT RICHARD L. TRUMKA, LATE PRESIDENT OF THE AFL-CIO, AND HIS LEGACY TO THE WORLD PEACE PRIZE
Posted By: February 28, 2022
Barbara Flaherty, Fr. McManus, and President Trumka
Feb. 3, 2016. AFL-CIO, Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Fr. McManus, President Trumka and Mrs. Barbara Trumka
Feb. 3, 2016. AFL-CIO, Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
By Fr. Sean Mc Manus, Chief Judge World Peace Prize
and President of Irish National Caucus/Irish Peace Foundation
We have received numerous supportive inquiries about the late, beloved President
Trumka and the World Peace Prize. This will provide a short profile.
We implement the mission of the World Peace Prize through the good graces of the Irish National Caucus/Irish Peace Foundation.
And, of course, even though President Trumka symbolically used his AFL-CIO Headquarters to help us launch the World Peace Prize and spread it throughout the Labor Movement—and even though he wrote to many Labor leaders all across the United States, introducing me—the World Peace Prize remained an independent, separate organization, registered in Washington, DC. It was never controlled by the AFL-CIO, and President Trumka always accepted and respected that, never trying to manipulate us in any way. His only desire was to help and encourage us to spread the World Peace Prize among the Labor Movement. He greatly loved and appreciated that we had connected the Labor Movement with world peace:
“I want to thank Barbara Flaherty, Fr. McManus, and the World Peace Prize Awarding Council for recognizing the nexus between Organized Labor and peace. Too many times in the past we were not looked at as being part of the peace process. So, I really appreciate the World Peace Prize Awarding Council recognizing the connection between fighting for social justice and peace.”
—President Richard L. Trumka, AFL-CIO in his acceptance address on receiving the World Peace Prize for Labor Leadership at AFL-CIO Headquarters in Washington, DC. June 19, 2018.
(To watch President Trumka’s acceptance speech (just seven minutes) go to vimeo.com/275953504).
President Trumka always delighted in participating in the Honorific Journal for each recipient of the World Peace Prize. This, in particular, was deeply appreciated by each recipient of the World Peace Prize: that the President of the AFL-CIO would personally honor them in such a way had, for them, profound significance. … Another measure of the Great Man, brimming with solidarity and generosity of spirit for his sisters and brothers in the Labor Movement.
In particular, President Trumka appreciated the fact we were most conscious of the need to give the World Peace Prize to women, especially of color and to men, especially of color—to minorities, and to Labor leaders in weak Labor States, who can be over-looked. This, of course, fitted in perfectly with our own vision of the mission of the World Peace Prize and our almost 50 years of lobbying the Congress on justice and peace in Ireland, which was always supported by the AFL-CIO right from the time of President George Meany (1955-1979), President Lane Kirkland (1979-1995), President Thomas R. Donahue (1995), President John J. Sweeney (1995-2009), and to President Trumka’s last breath (2009-August 5, 2021).
God rest President Trumka. May his memory be a blessing, and his legacy be a constant inspiration. And that is why we re-named the World Peace Prize for Solidarity to the “Richard L. Trumka World Peace Prize for Solidarity.” And the Trumka Family, God bless them, have warmly welcomed this re-naming, stating: “We are honored that Rich’s name will live on, always linked with solidarity and peace because the World Peace Prize for Solidarity will be renamed in his honor the ‘Richard L. Trumka World Peace Prize for Solidarity.’ Solidarity forever.” END.
