AFL-CIO Convention - Secretary Of Department Of Labor

The day began with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis addressing the AFSCME caucus prior to the opening of the convention. Arlene Holt-Baker, Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO also addressed the group over breakfast.

More than a thousand delegates and alternates attended representing 55 unions, 48 state federations, and 4 direct affiliates. 43% of delegates are women/people of color.

The United Steelworkers announced that for the first time in a very long time, the laws of this country were enforced to prevent the improper loss of jobs in the United States. President Obama stopped the illegal import of Chinese tires. The members of the Steelworkers union were credited with sending 72,000 letters asking for enforcement.

Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis addressed the convention. With an unemployment rate of 9.7%, and 23% of them youth, Secretary Solis made a commitment to work with the White House to “export products not paychecks”.

• She said women now earn, on average, eighty cents for every man’s dollar. Seventy per cent of the disabled do not participate in the workforce. Acknowledging the problems the American workforce faces, Secretary Solis focused on what has been accomplished since the new administration took office and on the investments made in the future.
  
  
• She talked about the 500 million dollars being invested in green jobs as well as other programs. She said, “We will leave no vet behind just as they leave no warrior on the battlefield.” She talked about programs like, “Helmets to Hardhats”.
  
  
• She spoke in support of project labor agreements for federally funded projects. She said US workers will get first dibs at jobs and she will work for changes in the H2A program.

“It’s not a good job unless it’s a safe and secure job,” said Solis. She said the Department of Labor is “back in the enforcement business”. With more than 670 investigators hired (returning the department to a level not seen since 2001), 689 inspections have occurred since July 2009. Quoting President Obama, who said, “Labor is not the problem – labor is the solution”, she committed to work with the White House to make the strongest possible argument in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act. As AFSCME President McEntee eloquently stated this morning, “When workers in the private sector suffer – workers in the public sector suffer as well.”

Members are encouraged to call their Senators in support of EFCA.
Learn more at employeefreechoiceact.org.