This was just a whole lot of fun to report. People just loved talking about what a great political leader Hilda Solis is. I didn't have nearly enough room to include all the good stuff that was said. First Latina President? It could happen....
A Working Class Hero for Secretary of Labor
By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
When President Barack Obama announced his nomination of Representative Hilda Solis to be Secretary of Labor, support from the labor movement-as well as other progressive leadership- was strong and enthusiastic, with comparisons drawn to the legendary Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor, who played a major role in developing modern labor law and worker protections such as the minimum wage and Social Security.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called Solis "a passionate leader and advocate for all working families." Change To Win Executive Director Chris Chafe called her "an important ally for the labor movement," both because of her empathy and her understanding, as he explained to Random Lengths, "She has a full appreciation of the context that shapes the challenges workers face-the wage gap, the training gap, the health care gap, the retirement security gap, and the competitiveness gap in the context of a global labor economy."
The president-elect also gave his support for legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize, but he said there may be other ways to achieve the same goal without angering businesses. And while many Democrats on Capitol Hill are eager to see a quick vote on that bill, he indicated no desire to rush into the contentious issue.
"If we're losing half a million jobs a month, then there are no jobs to unionize, so my focus first is on those key economic priority items I just mentioned," he said. "Let's see what the legislative docket looks like."
And Politico reports that GOP Senators start threatening the Solis nomination, saying EFCA would destroy the bipartisan tone Obama wants. The first line of objection is she's not answering questions--but Dems point out that cabinet nominees are often limited in what they can say (Bush's certainly were). Then we get to the meat:
With several Republicans having indicated that they'll vote for her, and Democrats holing at least 58 seats in the Senate this year, there is little doubt that Solis will get confirmed eventually.
But a hold on her nomination would signal that Solis can expect a contentious relationship with the GOP and would foreshadow the fight ahead over the card-check bill, a top priority for organized labor that would largely abolish secret ballots during votes on whether employees want a union, potentially leading to millions of new union members.
"It puts them on notice that this is going to be an explosive issue," one senior GOP aide said of the possibility of holding up Solis' nomination....
I did some interviews with the Labor Secretary to be a few, Hilda Solis, in August of 2007. The video above is a discussion of the Progressive Caucus (forgive the shitty editing, I was experimenting). Here's the other video I took, on on global warming and race.
I'm impressed with this pick. Solis is an organizer within Congress, and has the smarts to build political coalitions among different constituency groups, including the netroots. I could see Labor becoming a department that has to build its own power, since Obama's not exactly going to welcome that perspective to a seat at the table unless Solis forces her way in. As an example, Obama has introduced his 'economic team' and met with it many times, without even having chosen a Labor Secretary, a clear sign that to him, the perspectives of organized labor are somewhat peripheral to his thinking on the economy. In 1992, Clinton had Bob Reich as his Labor Secretary, but Reich was also a part of the President's economic team (though he did become marginalized fairly quickly).
This is a very good pick. Solis might turn out to be an excellent ally.
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