below, from AFL-CIO

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
On White House Chief of Staff Appointment
January 6, 2011

The president is of course entitled to choose a chief of staff in whom he has complete confidence. Yet President Obama and his Administration will ultimately be judged by results -- whether the economy recovers robustly and begins to generate good jobs on the scale needed to improve the lives of working people.

The president needs a chief of staff who will reach out to diverse constituencies and make sure that the voices of ordinary Americans are heard in the White House. We are hopeful that the new chief of staff's priority is to achieve the strong economy that working people desperately need. This is the time for strong leadership from the White House to invest in America's future, create millions of good jobs, safeguard our retirement security and health care, strengthen workers' rights and the role of the unions, and reform our flawed trade policies to restore America's place in the global economy.

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