By C.J. Atkins

Peoples World and Press Associates 

PHILADELPHIA (PAI)—The Democratic platform adopted by party delegates in Philadelphia is “the most pro-worker platform since FDR,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says.

Speaking at the first-ever meeting of the new Democratic Party Labor Council, on the afternoon of July 25 just before the convention opened, Trumka based his comments on the shared goals between the Democrats’ planks and those of the federation’s Raising Wages campaign, launched earlier this year.

But he also sent a message to party pols meeting in Philly: Workers and their allies would campaign for pro-worker candidates, and also hold their feet to the fire after Nov. 8 when actual votes and decisions occur on issues that emphasize raising wages.

Those include increasing the minimum wage, strengthening the right to organize and bargain collectively, restoring voting rights, equal pay for equal work, fair trade not free trade and comprehensive immigration reform, including eventual legal status for the undocumented.

Labor delegates, from AFL-CIO, Change To Win and other unions discussed the immediate electoral task of defeating Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and electing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, as well as the longer-term necessity of finding a more-equitable economic development model for the country.

That’s where the platform comes in. Speakers praised it as a good start toward what must be done. The council is another part of that start, guaranteeing labor and workers a permanent seat and voice at the party’s table.

Trumka explained the progressive movement, including labor, must "rewrite the rules" of the economy so that the benefits of growth are shared more broadly. Achieving such a goal requires the election of progressive candidates up and down the ticket in November and later.

Clinton has responded, said Trumka and Felicia Wong, head of the progressive Roosevelt Institute in New York City.

Repeating his frequent analysis of economic strategy, Trumka said, "The economy is not like the weather; it doesn't just happen to us." Emphasizing the importance of winning political power, he told delegates to remember that "those who write the rules set the terms and conditions of the free market, and for 40 years, those rules have been written against us."

That means workers have the opportunity this year not only to hold onto the White House, but to make gains in Congress and start building a "rising wages economy," Trumka said. The federation had similar high hopes for President Barack Obama, whom workers and unions strongly supported in 2008 and 2012. But Obama has been AWOL on free trade. So to prevent such further backsliding, this year's Democratic Party election program is  "the strongest pro-worker platform since FDR,” Trumka added.

Characterizing the Democratic primary race between Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont as a positive competition overall, the labor leader referred to the Raising Wages Campaign as the standard by which unions measure presidential candidates and others.

"We said anyone who wants our support must bring forth a bold commitment to a pro-worker agenda," Trumka said. Though the federation chose not to make an early presidential endorsement, he told delegates the path ahead was now clear for all to see.

"Hillary Clinton has answered the call," he declared. "The choice between Clinton and Trump is a no-brainer."

Clinton not only came out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which labor opposes, but "she calls for a whole new direction on trade," Trumka announced. At the Democratic candidates' debate in February, Clinton declared the global economy thrives on trade, but said the U.S. government previously "failed to provide the basic safety net support that American workers need,” Trumka noted.

"Old Donnie Trump," by contrast, "embodies everything wrong with our economy," Trumka said. The Republican nominee "personally profited from NAFTA, tells Trump University students that outsourcing creates jobs, and he bullies the workers in his own companies."  Trump has, however, called the TPP "a disaster" and has vowed to improve America's trading position with other countries.

NAFTA, the 22-year-old controversial U.S.-Canada-Mexico “free trade” treaty, became the model for later pacts – including the TPP – which workers and unions strongly oppose because they cost hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs. Labor campaigned hard against NAFTA and is campaigning hard against the TPP, which Obama, the GOP and business push.

Continuing on Trumka’s themes, Wong said that to win long-term change and economic growth, progressives must change not just the economic rules, but also the rule-writers.

"Union members, the youth, people of color, and others need to not only influence the process, but get involved and do the writing themselves," she said.

But she declared the program’s first goal must be to rebalance power at the top, specifically reducing the power of corporate and financial capital. She noted that profits for the financial sector tripled since the 1980s and that compensation for the top 1 percent increased by 183 percent over the same period, while wages for everyone else had been relatively flat.

Extreme concentration of power at the top, she said, "is unhealthy for us all."