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By Doug Cunningham

AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka says he came away from President Obama’s State of The Union speech convinced that Obama is willing to fight this year for change that will improve the lives of workers.

[Rich Trumka]: “I came away sayin’ he finally gets it. He nderstands. He knows that we need jobs and he’s willing to fight for it. He knows that we need health care and he’s willing to fight for it.”

Trumka was happy to hear Obama praise the House jobs bill and urge the Senate to pass a jobs bill and get it to the president’s desk. And the AFL-CIO heard many other things in Obama’s speech that it likes. Things like tax cuts for 95 percent of working families, an end of tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, new tax incentives for businesses that create jobs or raise wages in the U.S. and using $30 billion in money repaid by Wall Street banks to help community banks lend money to small businesses. Trumka says now it’s time for all of us to get busy and work together to create the millions of jobs America needs. AFSCME President Gerald McEntee says his union agrees with Obama that our country needs to lay a strong financial foundation for long-term economic growth that includes robust invesment in vital public services.