|
Public Employee Press
Spitzer names new chief at Labor Dept. Safety
and Health head is former DC 37 member
In a twist on the movie, “Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington,” M. Patricia Smith has gone to Albany. Gov. Eliot
Spitzer has named her the new Commissioner of the state Labor Dept. Smith brings
a solid background in prosecution from her former position as Assistant Attorney
General in charge of the AG’s Labor Bureau.
She came to a Cornell
Labor Breakfast forum Jan. 31 to speak to the labor community, hear their concerns
and share her vision for the agency. She said that enforcement will be the centerpiece
of her administration, starting with the laws on prevailing and minimum wages.
In stark contrast to the prior administration, she proclaimed, “The Labor
Department and the Labor Commissioner have to be the voice for the workers of
New York State.”
Smith also used the occasion to announce her appointment
for director of the agency’s Safety and Health Dept., Maureen Cox. Cox has
an impressive record, starting with her roots as a Public Health Sanitarian in
DC 37’s Health Services Employees Local 768.
“Cox helped us tremendously
when tuberculosis was a problem in the early 1990s,” said Guille Mejia of
DC 37’s Safety and Health Dept. “She took a real active role with some
of the city agencies, in particular, the Department of Corrections, in getting
them to work on their policies for inmates.”
Cox went on to become
a safety and health inspector for the State Labor Dept. “She is known as
a straight arrow and she’s always had an open door policy,” said Mejia.
“She was one of few people in the Pataki administration who followed the
agency’s mission to protect workers.” Other powerful women have served
as state labor commissioner, including DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts
(1981-87) and famed New Dealer Frances Perkins, who was appointed to the position
by then-Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1929 and went to Washington with him in
1933 as U.S. Secretary of Labor. | |