Labor & Employment Law

Labor Secretary Solis: ?Level the Playing Field?

By Seth Michaels

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Elections have consequences. Speaking today in an interview with The Washington Post, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis re-affirmed the administration’s commitment to passing the Employee Free Choice Act and restoring workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain.

Here’s what Solis had to say about why we need the Employee Free Choice Act:

I think it helps to level the playing field because, in many cases, workers have been disadvantaged. They’ve been intimidated, they’ve been harassed, and we have case after case after case that we can look at. And you probably hear from the opposing side, that they will say, “Well, no, there have been successes where people have been able to organize, and they have been able to push forward a unionization.” But when you look at the attempts that have been made over the past few years…there have been barriers that have been put up. And I think that the past administration was not very favorable for unions. They were not supportive in many ways.

A video of the interview with Solis, which includes a discussion of green jobs, the unemployment rate, worker training and wages, is available here, and a transcript is available here.

It’s refreshing to have an advocate for working families in such a critical position. Solis is the child of two union members and has a record in Congress of supporting workers?including co-sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act.

Make no mistake, this is going to be a tough fight against determined corporate opposition, but the efforts of working families in 2006 and 2008 have given us strong pro-worker majorities in Congress, a president who will sign the Employee Free Choice Act and a secretary of labor who actually fights on behalf of workers.

President Barack Obama and his administration have reiterated several times their continued support for the Employee Free Choice Act. Working families won in 2008, and now it’s time to make our economy work for everyone again.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on June 30, 2009 (boomark / email).