The AFL-CIO called on President Trump to resign or be removed from office “at once, whether through impeachment or the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” following the riots at the U.S. Capitol this week.
The labor group’s general board released the statement Friday, saying it is not one America’s labor movement makes lightly.
“The deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob looking to overturn the results of a free and fair election, encouraged and inspired by President Donald Trump, was one of the greatest attacks on our democracy in American history. And the fact that trespassers were allowed to roam the halls of Congress without consequence is one of the latest examples of why we must tear down the systems and abiders of white supremacy,” the AFL-CIO General Board said.
President Trump’s supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to protest the certification of the Electoral College vote affirming President-elect Joe Biden’s win. Rioters breached the Capitol as the House and Senate debated, which led to multiple deaths, including one Capitol Police officer.
“Hate and insurrection have no place in America,” they wrote.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the attack on the Capitol “one of the greatest assaults on our democracy since the Civil War” in a statement on Wednesday.
The AFL-CIO, which includes 55 unions and represents 12.5 million workers, endorsed Biden for president in May. The group has been critical of the Trump administration throughout the coronavirus pandemic because the Department of Labor did not issue an Emergency Temporary Standard to protect workers.
“Even with overwhelming evidence that additional protection is needed, Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia has been unwilling to fulfill the duties Congress entrusted him with,” AFL-CIO said in a statement in May.
Trumka was part of the White House’s Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, which was announced in April to help open back up the country during the pandemic. He also endorsed the administration’s trade deal with Mexico and Canada, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, in December, calling it a “trade deal that benefits workers.”