This will ultimately be his legacy, and the legacy of New Voice. They failed to do what they promised, but they paved the way for future leadership to deliver. For all their failings, our movement is immeasurably better than it was in 1995, and better than it would have been had they not been elected.
Richard Trumka did not deliver the movement he promised, and which we deserve. What he did do was make such a movement possible, clearing the way for something better than the decaying House of Labor presided over by past AFL-CIO leaders. Our House still needs rebuilding—and we need new, bold leadership to do it. The movement we build, and the leaders which lead it, will be Trumka’s legacy.