http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/20/news/economy/afl_cio_washington/index.htmAFL-CIO President Richard Trumka accused House Speaker John Boehner of blackmailing America for withholding his vote to raise the debt ceiling unless there are drastic spending cuts.
"Now we see Speaker Boehner and his colleagues engaged in a new round of blackmail with a ransom note that reads: 'Cut Medicare, dismantle the government, destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs to fund more tax cuts for the rich, or we will cause the United States to default on its debts'," Trumka said in a speech at the National Press Club on Friday.
(snip)
In a wide-ranging speech, Trumka focused on the imperiled state of the labor movement, calling it workers' "great struggle."
He compared the new onslaught against workers' rights being waged in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio to battles over public employees rights to organize during the 1960s civil rights movement. He decried Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's attack on public employees' collective bargaining and organizing rights.