AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka predicted Wednesday that — unless Republicans back down first — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will hold a vote to change the chamber’s filibuster rule.
The union leader said at an event hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund that he expects the Democrats will come out of a caucus meeting set for Thursday “unified” on the issue and will make an ultimatum to the Republicans.
The Democrats’ ultimatum to the GOP would be: “This is about obstructionism and if you continue to obstruct, we will use the rules to force you not to obstruct.”
Big labor has been aggressively pushing Democrats to change the filibuster rule. They are upset over both the lack of action on President Obama’s pick for Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, and the the five nominees for the National Labor Relations Board.
UPDATE: Fred Wszolek, spokesperson for the pro-business Workforce Fairness Institute issued the following statement in reaction to Trumka’s comments:
