A third-generation coal miner from Pennsylvania, he had led the labor federation since 2009.
Richard Trumka, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation’s pre-eminent labor federation, for the last 12 years and an influential voice in Democratic politics, died on Thursday. He was 72. The federation confirmed the death. The cause was a heart attack, according to an A.F.L.-C.I.O. official, who did not say where Mr. Trumka died. Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, announced the death on the Senate floor. “The working people of America have lost a fierce warrior at a time when we needed him most,” Mr.
