Take Action: Urge the Senate to Finally Confirm Hilda Solis for Secretary of Labor

State unemployment insurance funds have been going broke left and right.  There are disputes between some states and the Obama administration about money going to state UI funds, and the transfer of the funds will require strong oversight to make sure states use the funds as intended.  

Factories are closing, some due to transferring the jobs to Mexico or overseas, while we also run up larger and larger balance of trade deficits with China.  The Department of Labor has programs for benefits and training for people who've lost their jobs due to increased imports or their jobs moving overseas.  It's crucial we have a strong Secretary of Labor to make sure the certification process doesn't keep anyone who should be eligible from qualifying for the benefits and training.  

Beyond those who lose their jobs to trade or moving offshore, there will be millions of displaced workers.  The Obama administration will try to work with the states to help these people to find new jobs, and possibly get training to help them find employment in a new field.  

With many people worried about losing their jobs, they're going to be more reluctant to speak out about abuses in the workplace.  It's even more important in a tight job market to make sure people are getting paid fairly, that they're not being asked to work excessive hours, and that they're safe from preventable illness and injury in their workplace.  And as you surely know, wage and hours and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Labor.  

Finally, we all know that in the aftermath of the Bush administration, that we need to be certain that official reports and statistics are 100% reliable.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides many of our most basic measures of labor and economic activity and change.  We need to have a Secretary of Labor dedicated to scrupulous conduct of this information gathering and dissemination.  

In short, we need Senate to approve President Obama's nominee for Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

As Meteor Blades put it earlier:

Solis would arguably be the most liberal appointee in Obama's Cabinet. Daughter of immigrant father who became a Teamster organizer at a battery recycling factory and an immigrant mother who worked a factory line, she's never been one to give mere lip service to labor issues. She was a key player in a hard-won voter-initiative fight over the California minimum wage, an increase of which then-Gov. Pete Wilson had vetoed. She's been solidly behind environmental protections, particularly in the arena of environmental justice. Having been raised near a landfill east of Los Angeles, she authored 1999 state legislation that called for "the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws," the first such law in the nation.

For that effort, in 2000, she was the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award...

Organized labor, whose numbers are finally growing though in part because of adverse circumstances, sees considerable hope for progress in an Obama administration, especially if Solis is confirmed. She will certainly be a stronger, more pro-active advocate for workers than anyone who has held that post for the past 12 years and, arguably, a lot longer. Labor's wish list for that progress is topped by the Employee Free Choice Act. Both Obama and Solis have previously voiced support for this law, which would go a long way toward undermining the union-busting tactics - both crude and sophisticated - that we've seen so much of in the past three decades.

The nation needs Hilda Solis confirmed.  Tuesday the Senate is to vote on a cloture motion to set up a final vote for her confirmation.  There's no doubt that she has more than 50 supporters in the Senate.  But she needs 60 votes to cut off the debate and set up the final vote.  

The Service Employees International Union have set up a website that allows you to contact your Senator to urge him or her to vote to confirm Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor.  Take a moment and contact your Senator.