Paul Tonko: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank Congressman Levin for arranging this evening's special order. Today we honor…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank Congressman Levin for arranging this evening's special order. Today we honor the remarkable life of Richard Trumka, a person who poured his entire heart and voice and passion into what is right for workers and what is right for union workers. Rich emboldened that mission and fought with great fierceness in order to achieve. Rich taught us that anything worth fighting for deserves our efforts beyond belief, and he poured himself passionately into his mission. A fierce champion of the labor movement and fearless proponent of the rights of working people, Rich revolutionized collective bargaining and civil disobedience as a mechanism for meaningful change in our modern era. I was deeply saddened and stunned to learn of Rich's sudden passing back in August. A great friend to so many of us, myself included and my district, we worked together to build strong enforceable labor standards into the heart of the new NAFTA agreement, which gives American workers a fair shot and level playing field on the global stage. That kind of fight was at the heart of Richard's lifelong work, using unionism as a tool to build a fairer economy, a more just economy, a more robust and competitive economy for our society.…”