MD State Fed President Says Perez Can Bring Labor, Biz Together

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
    A top union leader who worked closely with Thomas Perez, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the nation’s next Secretary of Labor, says Perez can bring labor and progressive firms together, as Perez did in Maryland. Creating such alliances is one reason Perez “was a great secretary” of Labor, Licensing and Regulation in Maryland, adds Fred D. Mason Jr., president of the Maryland-D.C. AFL-CIO, the umbrella organization for the state’s unions. “Plus, he understands workers’ rights are human rights, and he’s a human rights advocate,” Mason adds of Perez, whom he worked with for years.  
    On March 18, Obama named Perez, now assistant attorney general for civil rights, to succeed Hilda Solis in the U.S. Labor Department’s top job.  Solis left on Jan. 5.  Perez held Maryland’s labor post from 2006-2009, before the Justice Department post.  He was in Justice’s Civil Rights Division before, and was a Montgomery County, Md. councilmember – the first Latino member of the council – from 2002-2006.     
    Mason said Perez was not only “very capable, but he understands federal, state and local government” and forged “good relationships” with unions.  Perez served under pro-worker Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), a potential 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful.
    Perez also forged relationships with business, Mason said.  He understands “you need to compromise” to get pro-worker measures through legislatures.  Compromise has been notably lacking in the Nation’s Capitol, at least as far as Congress’ ruling Republicans are concerned.
    One top initiative Perez and Mason worked on together was to convince the Maryland legislature to crack down on employers who misclassify workers as “independent contractors,” depriving them of rights and benefits and the state of tax revenue.  The other was to shift adult job training programs from the state Education Department – which concentrates on K-12 schools – to the Labor Department, and to fund them.  Perez also revived budgets for state labor law enforcement, Mason said.
    Perez “understands the American economy and the role businesses have in it,” Mason explains.  “But he insists workers have value and it should be respected.”  And Perez believes “it would be a mistake to put all businesses in” an anti-worker box.    “Tom, because of his studied and deliberate approach” to individual issues, “will identify employers who want to move forward” and work with unions and workers, Mason says.
    Jeff Buddle, a vice president of the Maryland Fire Fighters and president of IAFF Local 1664 in Montgomery County, agreed.
    Perez “was a champion” of Fire Fighters and other protective service workers while on the county council, Buddle said.  “He was always one of our biggest supporters, finding money not just for staffing, but for apparatus, too.  I can’t think of any instance where we were disappointed” by Perez’ stands.
    But Right Wing Southern Senate Republicans are already criticizing Perez’ civil rights record, showing labor may have to mobilize to help him get the DOL job.   One, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., is threatening a filibuster because, he says, Perez’ civil rights division did not stand up for white Louisiana voters.

- By Mark Gruenberg, PAI Staff Writer