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Transportation unions praise Sen. Inouye's career
The AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department (TTD) praised Sen. Daniel Inouye's (D-Hawaii) work on transportation during his long Senate career.
Inouye died Monday at 88 after experiencing respiratory complications last week.
AFL-CIO TTD President Ed Wytkind said on Tuesday that the nine-term senator had been a friend to transportation workers across the country.
“Transportation labor joins the people of Hawaii and the entire nation in mourning the death and honoring the life of Senator Daniel K. Inouye, a war hero and champion of the middle class," Wyktind said in a written statement.
“For more than five decades transportation workers could count on Sen. Inouye to defend their jobs and rights," Wtykind continued. "The senator always advocated for increased investments in our transportation system and jobs, and aggressively led on policy initiatives that make our nation the world leader in the safe and efficient movement of goods and people."
"And he did so with a deep sense of humility and kindness," Wytkind continued. "We will always remember and be inspired by the compassion and decency that defined Senator Inouye’s career in public life.”
Inouye's death was announced on the floor of the Senate on Monday afternoon by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). He had been the most senior member of the upper chamber and third in line for the presidency.
Inouye's replacement for the remainder of his term in the Senate, which was scheduled to end in 2014, will be selected by Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D).
Inouye's office has said that the late senator had urged Abercrombie to appoint Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii) to replace him before he died on Monday.
