Thread: Hilda Solis sworn in as Labor secretary

Solis sworn in as Labor secretary

11:05 AM | March 13, 2009

Former Rep. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte) was sworn in as U.S. Secretary of Labor today in Washington by Vice President Joe Biden. Before the oath was administered, Biden told the group gathered at the U.S. Department of Labor headquarters that Solis will fight for the rights of workers.

"Things like fairness in the workplace and workplace safety are not just idle phrases that are to be debated in Hilda's mind; they're real," Biden said. "They affect real live people. They're real concerns that people face every single day. She knows that a job is more than about a paycheck. ... A job is about dignity. A job is about respect. Hilda understands that."

Solis, 51, had faced a series of problems, including revelations of $6,400 in outstanding tax liens owed on her husband's auto repair business. But her path to confirmation was cleared last month when Republicans ended plans to invoke a rule that would have forced a filibuster-proof 60 votes for confirmation.

Solis' nomination initially stalled over her role in a nonprofit group that lobbied for the much-contested Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier for workers to form unions.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... solis.html

It will be interesting to see who she really represents with yet another appointed official of "Hispanic surname" to take office. Fighting for the unions and working conditions of who? The ILLEGAL ALIENS? Let us watch and see. I am not bringing this up to do any bashing,labeling,or name calling, but just a reality check on what is happening here in the USA.

Elected to Congress in 2000 from the district east of Los Angeles where she grew up, Solis is backed by labor unions and has described herself as an environmentalist, an ally of working families, and "an unabashed crusader for women's rights." She previously served in California's State Senate (1994-2001) and Assembly (1992-94). Her parents, immigrants from Mexico and Nicaragua,

http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/hildasolis.html

My experience is that workers rights in union dominated and politically liberal states is pretty much a political football. You can succeed if you are part of a group that has all had the same problem. But whites, males and religious people (especially fundamentalists) will often get the shaft if forced to challenge an injustice individually.