Yesterday at the National Press Club, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and IBEW President Edwin Hill dismissed reports that the Workers Stand for America rally to be held in Philadelphia on August 11 is intended to be a “shadow convention” to protest the Democratic National Convention.

Hill and other labor leaders have voiced their displeasure with the Democratic National Convention being held in right-to-work North Carolina, the state with the lowest percentage of union members of any state in the country. Several unions, including the IBEW, are planning on not attending the convention as a result, and some observers speculated the August 11 event in Philadelphia might function as a shadow convention.

“It’s simply not the case,” Trumka said, dismissing such claims. “This is a program we have been doing for quite some time.” Trumka painted the rally as part of a broader program of political independence in which organized labor is acting on political matters through their own organizations instead of outside organizations like the Democratic Party.

“I'm not upset [the DNC] is going on in Charlotte, I'm upset that there's very little unionized construction there, there's very little unionized employment opportunities there,” said Hill. “We had our nasty clash, there's no question about it, and I'm still not happy with it, but it's not causing what we're doing right now.”