by Frank James
Rep. Hilda Solis of the Los Angeles-area is reportedly President-elect Barack Obama's choice for Labor Department secretary and the raves are coming in.
Labor likes her a lot (no surprise there. A pick this important would have been run by organized labor beforehand.) Here's a statement from AFL-CIO president John Sweeney:
We're thrilled at the prospect of having Rep. Hilda Solis as our nation's next labor secretary. We're confident that she will return to the labor department one of its core missions - - to defend workers' basic rights in our nation's workplaces. She's proven to be a passionate leader and advocate for all working families - - in fact, she's voted with working men and women 97 percent of the time. The AFL-CIO looks forward to working with Rep. Solis as she charts new territory for our nation's working men and women.
Andy Stern of the Service Employees International Union or SEIU had this to say:
"As someone who has pounded the pavement knocking on doors for Hilda Solis in her first upset campaign in California, I can tell you firsthand that this woman is about opening doors for millions of Americans who get up and go to work each day.
"From the streets of Los Angeles where she marched with the janitors who were fighting for jobs with dignity that can support a family through SEIU's Justice for Janitors campaigns, to the halls of Congress where she has been an outspoken supporter of healthcare rights for all, a livable minimum wage, and workers' right to come together for a voice on the job, Hilda Solis has never backed down from the good fight to make the American Dream available to all.
"The daughter of two immigrant workers and union members and a board member of American Rights at Work, she will be a Secretary of Labor working men and women can finally count on to stand up and fight for them. For Representative Solis, the American Dream is not an abstraction. Her parents met in a citizenship class. She understands personally the challenges workers face in a global economy and the need for a bold new agenda that expands healthcare for everyone and gives American workers a greater choice and a greater voice. For Representative Solis, serving as Secretary of Labor will not just be a job, but the culmination of a lifetime of action serving as a voice for people who work."
But it's exactly because of this closeness to the Labor movement that the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative, free-markets oriented organization, is cold to the pick. Here's a statement from Ivan Osorio, a CEI labor policy analyst:
According to reports, President-elect Barack Obama will name Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Secretary of Labor. If Rep. Solis's voting record is a guide to how she plans to run the Department, it is not encouraging, as it shows her consistently voting in favor of greater government spending.
Her apparent closeness to organized labor should also be cause for concern. Labor unions, which she should be tasked with overseeing, are her biggest campaign contributors by far. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, during the last election cycle, her top four donors -- and 14 of her top 21 donors -- are labor unions. Her relationships with union leaders are a legitimate topic, which Senators should address in her confirmation hearing.
Comments
1. The labor organization lobby does not represent a movement; it represents an employee representation industry that is funded by employee dues. This is permitted by an antiquated statutory scheme that was part of permitting business monopolies. This model is no longer viable and has only negative impacts on the economy and workplace relations.
2. Despite popular opinion, the Department of Labor is not the Department of Unions. It has regulatory responsibilities over both unions and employers, but in all cases for the benefit and protection of EMPLOYEE rights - even those who would vote "NO" in a secret-ballot unionization election, which - under EFCA, only union supporters will decide whether or not to hold.
3. If Representative Solis cannot demonstrate her ability to objectively regulate unions when their interests are counter to those of employees - by rejecting EFCA - her appointment should be filibustered.
Posted by: NO Employee-Free Choice Act Voting Rights Rollback | December 18, 2008 4:07 PM
Correct - She will have it tough in Congress- Too Close to Unions.
Posted by: Inky | December 18, 2008 5:38 PM
I think she's a great pick. When was the last time somebody looked out for the worker? The worker has become exploited and expendable and it needs to stop.
Posted by: Susan | December 18, 2008 7:43 PM
Next thing you know, the Change to Win unions, the AFL-CIO unions, ACORN, and the NEA will unite under the Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery Cash Cow (C-JERCC) banner to pressure Congress to pass Obama's economic recovery package.
Posted by: What's Next? | December 18, 2008 8:00 PM
Remember, racist Joe Baca said that if Obama didn't hand out more goodies to Hispanics, he might run into some roadblocks. Obama got scared and hired yet another separatist racist to appease "la raza". That flush you hear is America going down the toilet.
Posted by: rjjrdq | December 19, 2008 4:03 AM
The playing field has been long tilted to union busting employers. The Employee Free Choice Act is the only viable way to allow employees to unionize without coercion from employers and their union busters.
Read "Confessions of a Union Buster" by the reformed union buster, Marty Levitt, to see what is done in the real world.
Posted by: Doug Zook | December 19, 2008 7:59 AM
Employee Free Choice Act
If congress passes this American will really be going down the drain, especially all the dirt in the unions,chicago for example.
Posted by: Inky | December 19, 2008 10:26 AM
Unions are necessary evils. There is good and bad in all of them, and people who takee advantage of the system.
Posted by: lochnessmonster | December 19, 2008 10:43 AM
Thanks, " Doug Zook ", for putting that book out there. Since Reagan, union-busting has been a Republican pastime. Hopefully, with the passage of EFCA, the owners/managers will quit interfering with union organizing and intimidating their workers !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | December 19, 2008 10:45 AM
Zook/Fitz,
Yeah, only union supporters should be able to intimidate workers! Workers shouldn't be able to vote in private! They should have to publicly sign cards! And if they change their mind, they should have to publicly ask for their card back instead of voting in a secret-ballot election! That will show those evil owners/managers and union-busting Republicans!
American Rights at Work is a propaganda front for organized labor to increase their market share. It gave David Bonior the kind of job Blago was trying to get SEIU to set up for him at Change to Win. Don't confuse worker rights with union rights. ARW wants to expand union rights at the expense of worker rights. As a Director of ARW, Solis is all for that.
Posted by: How about a little more truth and a little less rhetoric? | December 19, 2008 1:04 PM
Do you guys really think there will be fewer union-busting consultants if unions can be certified solely based on authorization card signatures or because an arbitrator can force a first contract down an employer's throat? If so, you are delusional.
Posted by: If it is not a privately-exercise choice, it is not a free choice. | December 19, 2008 1:12 PM
Anyone, take a wild guess, at a moronic question. Who would honestly work for the workers best interests, the owners/managers or the workers, themselves? It is the same mindset, that prompted Senator McCain to claim the fundamental soundness of our economic system or Phil Gramm's , Senator McCain's economic advisor, astute observation, that we are a nation of whiners. That mindset is, a Republican's fixation, on the workers not having a right to organize. Get over it, ridiculous Republicans, unions are here to stay, especially, since the Republican's can longer use the apparatus of our government, against its citizen, if they want to organize unions. Pass EFCA, and guaranty an honest election, by the worker, for the workers and of the workers. It is vital to America's recovery !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | December 19, 2008 2:11 PM
Fitz,
1. If you believe workers work for their own best interests, why would you only allow union supporters to decide whether to have secret-ballot unionization elections and not provide that right to those who might vote "NO" to a particular union? Don't you think workers are smart enough to vote correctly in the privacy of a polling booth? Do you think you have a superior right to decide what is in their best interest? Is that because you believe in a "movement" that is more important that individual workers" choice, freely exercised in the privacy of a voting booth?
2. Do you not believe our economic system (as opposed to current economic conditions) is sound? What system do you propose?
Posted by: Truth Seeker | December 19, 2008 3:01 PM