|
Public
Employee Press The World of
Work By GREGORY N. HEIRES
Unions
applaud Obamas choice for labor secretary
Workers
rights and protections will be more vigorously enforced by President Barack Obamas
choice to lead the U.S. Labor Dept., eight-year Congress member Hilda L. Solis
of California.
The daughter of Latino immigrants with union jobs, Solis
had a 97 percent pro-worker voting record in Congress, where she supported legislation
to make union organizing easier, pushed to raise the minimum wage and criticized
free-trade agreements. She wants to improve job training for military veterans
and the unemployed.
Gerald W. McEntee, president of DC 37s parent
union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said
she understands that Americas economy needs to work for everybody,
not just the captains of industry.
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney
said Solis will return the Labor Department to its core missions of defending
workers basic rights, a welcome change after eight years of lax enforcement
of overtime, minimum wage and child labor laws under the Bush administration.
| |