Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
The AFL-CIO hosted a discussion today with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and numerous union leaders. Lula has spent his entire life fighting for the working class as both a union and political leader. He knows the futures of Brazil and the United States depend on dismantling systemic inequality, building worker power, and fighting racial and economic injustice.
Today’s meeting was a momentous step forward in the longstanding bond between our two movements. Four years ago, while Lula was wrongfully imprisoned, late AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka traveled to the country’s federal police building to demand justice and organize for Lula’s release.
“We stood by him then and we will continue to stand alongside Lula, his Workers’ Party and the Brazilian labor movement in their fight to defend democracy and build a better world for working people,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond in a statement.