--- title: 2014 Midterm Elections: Richard Trumka of AFL-CIO Laments Ebola Focus description: Richard Trumka says 2014 momentum is finally starting to build for the labor movement canonical: https://time.com/3478674/unions-isis-ebola-2014/ author: Alex Altman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-07T19:41:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:38:12.860Z article:section: Politics og:title: 2014 Midterm Elections: Richard Trumka of AFL-CIO Laments Ebola Focus og:description: Richard Trumka says 2014 momentum is finally starting to build for the labor movement og:url: https://time.com/3478674/unions-isis-ebola-2014/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8f865f01805845e/69875f1a06f2c146e7331293/ap120620990232.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Richard Trumka og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2014 Midterm Elections: Richard Trumka of AFL-CIO Laments Ebola Focus twitter:description: Richard Trumka says 2014 momentum is finally starting to build for the labor movement twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8f865f01805845e/69875f1a06f2c146e7331293/ap120620990232.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Union Chief Frets Foreign Policy and Ebola Are Distracting Voters from the Economy  by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Oct 7, 2014 7:41 PM UTC  AFL-–CIO president Richard Trumka addresses members in Los Angeles on Sept 9, 2013. AFL-–CIO president Richard Trumka addresses members in Los Angeles on Sept 9, 2013.Nick Ut—Associated Press  by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Oct 7, 2014 7:41 PM UTC The head of one of the nation’s most powerful labor federations said Tuesday that it has been a struggle to motivate workers ahead of the midterm elections, but that momentum was growing among the union members that Democrats will need to vote in droves for the party to retain control of the Senate and win a slew of tight gubernatorial races. Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, said global events such as tumult in the Middle East and the Ebola virus scare had diverted workers’ attention from the economic issues that form the cornerstone of the movement’s message. “It took more effort this time to break through,” Trumka told reporters at the labor giant’s headquarters in Washington. “Our job is made a little more difficult by all those external things: the Middle East, Ebola.” The AFL-CIO has shelled out more than $6 million in political contributions so far in 2014, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. Most of that has been funneled through the AFL-CIO Workers’ Voices PAC. Members are working to drive turnout through traditional ground-game efforts like phone banks, door knocks and leafleting. As a result, Trumka said, voters were beginning to “connect the dots” between Republican policies and the flat wages and slashed pensions that have buffeted middle-class union members. “The momentum is starting to build,” Trumka said. Returning from a tour of battleground states, Trumka said he saw candidate after candidate on the Republican side running against the policies of President Barack Obama, rather than enumerating specific policies of their own. If Republicans seize the Senate, Trumka said, it would result in stalled executive appointments, judicial vacancies and a fresh round of doomed efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. “There’s a sense of urgency,” he added. At least there should be. Unions’ power has been curbed in recent years by a broad campaign to restrict collective bargaining and impose right-to-work legislation. The effort to enact comprehensive immigration reform, one of the labor movement’s top priorities, has been stalled since the summer of 2013; Obama’s decision to punt on the issue until after the midterms incensed labor leaders and has the potential to trim turnout. Looking ahead, many labor leaders aren’t particularly enthused about the potential presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton, with concerns that the former New York senator is too close to Wall Street spurring a push for a populist candidate like Elizabeth Warren. Trumka said he saw positive momentum for pro-labor candidates like Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic Senate candidate in Kentucky. But he was circumspect about his predictions for November. “It’s going to be an interesting election,” he said. “We have our work cut out for us.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3478674/unions-isis-ebola-2014/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3478674/unions-isis-ebola-2014/"},"headline":"Union Chief Frets Foreign Policy and Ebola Are Distracting Voters from the Economy","datePublished":"2014-10-07T19:41:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:38:12.860Z","description":"Richard Trumka says 2014 momentum is finally starting to build for the labor movement","url":"https://time.com/3478674/unions-isis-ebola-2014/","keywords":["2014 Election","afl-cio"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8f865f01805845e/69875f1a06f2c146e7331293/ap120620990232.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Altman","jobTitle":"Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/alex-altman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte8f865f01805845e/69875f1a06f2c146e7331293/ap120620990232.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Richard Trumka","caption":"Richard Trumka","creditText":"Nick Ut—Associated Press","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3478674/unions-isis-ebola-2014/","name":"Union Chief Frets Foreign Policy and Ebola Are Distracting Voters from the Economy"}}]}] ```