Labor & Employment Law

Solis Backs Employee Free Choice, Strong Enforcement of Wage, Safety Laws

By Mike Hall

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says workers face increasing obstacles when they try to form unions and “we need to restore their freedom to do so.” In testimony before the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee today, Solis looked back at the department’s actions in 2009 and forward to its 2010 agenda.

In reiterating the Obama administration’s support for the Employee Free Choice Act, Solis said:

I will work to ensure that workers’ rights will be protected. In order to

particularly those related to payment of the minimum wage and overtime. Workers deserve this money and it will bring money to low-income households where most of it will be spent and help invigorate local communities.

Staffing levels at the Wage and Hour Division have increased, putting more investigators into the field who have “helped secure millions of dollars in back pay for thousands of workers.”

House Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) pointed to the increased emphasis on workers’ safety since Solis took the reins at the department.

For too long, OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] failed to respond to real dangers and put American workers in needless peril. Recent enforcement actions by the new administration have been a breath of fresh air. Instead of looking the other way, this administration is holding reckless employers accountable.

Solis also outlined how the department used nearly $60 billion in economic stimulus funds to provide a lifeline to unemployed workers and training opportunities?especially in new economy green jobs?for jobless workers.

The finds not only boosted unemployment insurance (UI) benefits by $100 a month, “going a long way to paying for groceries or helping with rent,”  but assisted states faced with severe budget shortfalls, “get UI benefits into the hands of their workers.”

Telling the committee the department is “looking to train the workers of the future [and] green jobs play an important role in our economic recovery,” Solis cited two examples where stimulus funds have been put to work.

In creating the criteria for many of the grants discussed above, we required applicants to include partners made up of a diverse set of stakeholders, including labor organizations, public or private employers, and the local workforce system. We also gave special consideration for partnerships that included community-based organizations.

For example, in Minnesota, Honeywell and two chambers of commerce have joined the United Steelworkers (USW) to train workers. Also in Florida, the Broward County Minority Builders Coalition partnered with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 729 to extend green jobs training opportunities.

Click here to read her entire testimony and here for an archived webcast.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 03, 2010 (boomark / email).