Richard Trumka: 'Scott Walker is a national disgrace'

The president of the largest alliance of unions in the United States offered just six words in response to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker formally jumping into the 2016 presidential race.

“Scott Walker is a national disgrace,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement released ahead of Walker’s formal announcement on Monday.


There isn’t much love to lose between Walker and unions. As the Wisconsin governor has geared up to run for president, he’s repeatedly called attention to his record of fighting unions in his state and his support for right-to-work legislation. Supporters have also highlighted Walker’s ability to overcome a recall effort supported by unions, a victory that thrust him into the national spotlight and electrified conservatives.

In March, Walker signed right-to-work legislation barring private-sector employees from being required to pay union fees.

Walker has made his union-busting cred central to his political identity, even touting it in response to critics who say he lacks foreign-policy experience. “If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world,” he said in February.

He’s also said that “the most significant foreign policy decision of my lifetime” was Ronald Reagan’s decision to break a strike of air-traffic controllers in 1981, arguing that it convinced the Soviet Union that Reagan was not to be trifled with.