Hilda Solis

Labor Secretary Admits Union Bias

by Vincent Vernuccio on March 1, 2011 · 1 comment

in Features, Labor, Zeitgeist

Post image for Labor Secretary Admits Union Bias

Speaking to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis admitted she was biased toward unions. Unions only account for 11.9 percent of the workforce, but Solis’ favoritism puts them ahead of the other 88 percent of the American workers.

From the Washington Examiner:

President Obama is staying mostly quiet about the union battle going on in Wisconsin. His labor secretary, Hilda Solis, is not.

“The fight is on!” Solis told a cheering crowd at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting over the weekend in Washington. Giving her support to “our brothers and sisters in public employee unions,” Solis pledged aid to unionized workers who are “under assault” in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

It’s no surprise Solis sympathizes with the unions against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget reform proposal. After all, Solis often tells audiences how proud she is that her father was a Teamsters shop steward and her mother belonged to the United Steelworkers union. “Admittedly, I am a little biased,” she told the DNC, “because … I come from a union household.”

But is it the role of the secretary of labor to take sides in a fight that pits public employee union members against workers and taxpayers who support Walker’s reforms? After all, the Labor Department mission statement says its purpose is “to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States.” It doesn’t say anything about unionized wage earners, job seekers, and retirees.

“The Labor Department should not represent only that part of the work force that is unionized,” says Elaine Chao, labor secretary under George W. Bush. “It should be responsible for the overall welfare of the entire American work force.”

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Solis Tells AFL-CIO: “I am proud and humbled to be your humble servant…”

by Ivan Osorio on September 15, 2009

in Economy, Labor, Politics as Usual, Regulation

The AFL-CIO, at its recent convention in Pittsburgh,  had much to celebrate, including the fact that a Labor Secretary showed up to pay tribute to her biggest supporters when she campaigned for Congress. Reports Investor’s Business Daily:

Late last Friday, the White House decided to slap a 35% import tariff on Chinese tires. In doing so, the administration sided with the United Steelworkers despite the risks of a trade war with China, the largest holder of Treasuries at a time of record U.S. deficits.

That’s only the most recent example of Washington’s union friendliness.

The auto industry bailout — though painful for all parties — largely preserved unions’ generous wages and benefits at the expense of creditors and taxpayers.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sent the convention videotaped hellos with effusive praise. “I look forward to working with your leadership team in the future,” Pelosi said.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis echoed Pelosi in her speech Monday. She also called Sweeney “my good friend and colleague” and “our president.”

“I am proud and humbled to be your humble servant as labor secretary,” she told the convention. She said the department was adding 670 labor law investigators. [Emphasis added.]

Maybe those new investigators will look into abuses by union officials, as well, as employers, but such talk from a Cabinet secretary  and the Obama administration’s recent actions are not encouraging.

For more on the Obama administration’s and Congressional Democrats’ fulfillment of Big Labor’s wish list, see here.

Elaine Chao: Union transparency “more important than Beck;” EFCA “terrible”

by Ivan Osorio on August 25, 2009 · 6 comments

in Economy, Labor, Regulation

Today, at the Heritage Foundation blogger briefing, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao described the union transparency requirements introduced during the Bush administration as “more important than Beck.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in CWA v. Beck is crucial in protecting individuals’ First Amendment right not to be forced to pay for speech or political activity with which they disagree. Under Beck, workers who are required to pay for union representation may reclaim the portion of their dues that are not used for representation purposes — which usually means the portion of their dues used for politics.

Of course, individual workers need to know precisely which portion of their dues is going to politics, which is why accurate and complete union financial reporting is important to rank-and-file members. Organized labor’s leadership fought the new requirements, claiming that they would impose huge administrative costs, but in fact the costs have been minimal for organizations as large as national labor unions.

Those financial reports are now available at unionreports.gov. Current Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, whose appointment was criticized because of her close ties to organized labor (including on this blog), could prove her impartiality by continuing and expanding this program — and she does have a lot to prove, given her past overwhelming support from unions.

Asked about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), Chao described it as an effort by unions to turn the tide on their declining fortunes. “They are losing membership and clout, and they want to change the rules of the game,” she said. She added that Democrats in Congress, who got considerable help from organized labor in gaining their majority in 2006, and expanding it in 2008, want to reward that loyal constiutency.

Noting that EFCA’s first provision, which would have made secret ballots a dead letter in union organizing elections, might be dropped in the  of popular opposition, she warned, “but do not be comforted or assuaged, because the other amendments of this bill are anti-democratic, as well.”

She referred to EFCA’s binding arbitration provision, which would enjoin a federally appointed arbitrator to impose a contract on a newly unionized company if management and the union could not reach agreement on a contract after 120 days. Thus, “the union can hold out and not negotiate, because theyknow that after 120 days, the government will come in.”

“There is nothing in this bill that is worth salvaging,” she said. “This bill is terrible, in that it is employed by the Demorats to reward their allies.”

For more on binding arbitration, see here.

Farewell Union Transparency

by Ivan Osorio on April 27, 2009 · 2 comments

in Economy, Features, Labor, Politics as Usual

It may not get card check this Congress, but organized labor still has plenty for which to thank the Obama administration. Today, in The American Spectator, F. Vincent Vernuccio describes one such fulfilled item on the unions’ wish list:

Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis betrayed rank and file union members by repealing vital reporting regulations that allowed members to see how union bosses were spending their hard-earned dues money. …

Solis’s repeal weakens one of the chief reporting tools used by the website to collect union financial data, the Form LM-2. The form requires labor organizations whose annual receipts are greater than $250,000 to identify and report all expense above $5,000. This tool allowed the DOL’s Office of Labor and Management Standards to obtain $91.5 million dollars in restitution of dues and resulted in over 900 convictions from 2001 to 2008. …

Before the repeal, labor organizations were required to identify all of their officers’ compensation including salary, benefits, deferred compensation, and even travel expenses. Access to this information is critical to guard how members’ money is being spent and help prevent abuse.

This is especially unfortunate given the scope of the scandal that came to light at a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local in Los Angeles late last year. Without better union expense reporting, such scandals will become much harder to uncover.

See Vernuccio’s CEI OnPoint on card check here.

For more on Labor Secretary Solis, see here.

SOTU Watch: New Labor Secretary

by Ivan Osorio on February 24, 2009

in Economy, Labor

The Senate confirmed Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Secretary of Labor this afternoon. It will be worth watching whether President Obama acknowledges her confirmation in his State of the Union speech tonight — and if so how prominently. Even as the momentum for card check slows down, Solis’s confirmation is a big win for organized labor, whose agenda she has consistently promoted.

For more on labor issues in the State of the Union , see here.

For more on Solis, see here.

For more on card check, see here.

More Questions about Solis

by Ivan Osorio on February 6, 2009 · 2 comments

in Economy, Labor, Politics as Usual

Today’s Washington Examiner proposes some questions which Senators should ask Obama Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis.

Solis is treasurer and a member of the board of directors of American Rights at Work (ARW), the 501c4, non-profit group that has received at least $1 million in contributions from labor unions. ARW spent more than $230,000 in 2007 and 2008 lobbying Congress on two bills Solis actively co-sponsored – the Employee Free Choice Act and the Public Safety Employer/Employee Cooperation Act. Both bills are top priorities for labor bosses who spent in excess of $300 million electing Democrats to Congress in 2008. Solis failed to note her role as ARW treasurer on her congressional disclosure reports, as she is required to do under House rules. As treasurer, she was required by IRS rules to account for all spending by the group, so her role was hardly ceremonial or passive, as claimed by her supporters.

But ARW also spent thousands of dollars on television spots described by the group in its report to the FEC as “electioneering communications.” Since as treasurer, Solis is required to approve all ARW spending, she must have signed off on the spots. This may well put her and ARW in violation of the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002. Among the Republicans targeted by ARW were incumbents Norm Coleman, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Gordon Smith, and John Sununu.

Hardly the kind of thing to make Republican Senators feel charitable toward her.

But ethics rules and possible conflicts of interest aside, Solis’s close involvement with ARW alone should make her ability to carry out her job in an impartial manner suspect (as I’ve noted previously).

For more on the Solis nomination, see here, here, here, and here.

For Obama, No Solace in Solis

by Ivan Osorio on February 5, 2009 · 1 comment

in Economy, Labor, Politics as Usual

This afternoon, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee abruptly canceled a session to consider the nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) for Labor Secretary, after USA Today reported that her husband paid $6,400 to settle tax liens yesterday. As embarrassing as this is to the Obama administration, coming on the heels of two nominations being sunk over tax problems, Solis’s nomination should be of concern for other reasons. As The Washington Post‘s Michael Fletcher notes, her nomination “had been delayed by questions over her role on the board of the pro-labor organization American Rights at Work.”

American Rights at Work’s website still lists her as a board member. That is no small thing. Her membership on the board, combined with her voting record and campaign donation history, should raise serious doubts regarding her ability to consider disputes involving labor unions in an impartial fashion.

For more on the Solis nomination, see here, here, and here.

Apparent Hold on Solis Nomination

by Ivan Osorio on January 26, 2009 · 2 comments

in Deregulate to Stimulate, Economy, Labor

The confirmation of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Labor Secretary has run into an unexpected delay, as an unidentified Republican senator appears to have placed a hold on her nomination. That may not prevent her nomination, since presidents get fairly wide latitude in cabinet appointments. Still, as a Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial notes today, Republican senators are right to ask more questions:

Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has been outspoken in his criticism of Rep. Solis’ testimony in her confirmation hearing, focusing his criticism on her responses concerning the “card check” bill that would allow unions to bypass secret ballot elections in their attempts to win recognition as collective bargaining agents — a change which organized labor has made a high priority.

Asked Thursday whether he was satisfied with the answers given to date by Rep. Solis — who voted for the so-called Employee Free Choice Act in the House in 2007 — Sen. Enzi replied, “What answers? She doesn’t even recognize her own record when giving the answers.”

The Los Angles Times, in its story on Solis’s hearing, features video of her handling of the EFCA question. That Solis would support President Obama’s positions — which unions largely support — does not disqualify her from the position. But her record does put some burden on her to demonstrate that she will not act as a mere advocate for organized labor within the federal government. Moreover, as the Review-Journal‘s editors note, lawmakers should also ponder the consequences of the Obama labor agenda on the broader economy.

President Obama has said repeatedly that fast action is needed to shore up a teetering economy. Frankly, much that has been proposed — blocking asset transfers from failed firms to new entrepreneurs more likely to create productive, long-term jobs, instead seizing more private wealth to fund government make-work boondoggles — is as unwise now as it was in 1933.

But in this economic climate, with each week producing a new empty parking lot with plywood on the windows, do the geniuses in Washington really mean to create a situation where business owners already struggling to stay afloat can without warning be handed their “last straw” — a stack of cards adorned with the message, “You’re now a union shop; here are our demands”?

For more on card check, see here and here.

Whither Union Transparency?

by Ivan Osorio on January 20, 2009 · 1 comment

in Economy, Labor, Regulation

As Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation’s 44th President today, Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) will likely be the next Secretary of Labor. As I’ve noted here recently, her cozy relationship with organized labor should raise concern among not only lawmakers and the public, but among rank-and-file union members who could soon find it harder to find out how union leaders spend their dues. The Department of Labor, under outgoing Secretary Elaine Chao, has enacted stronger reporting requirements. Reports The Los Angeles Times:

The federal government has adopted new financial disclosure rules for labor organizations that officials say would help expose the sort of corruption allegedly found in the largest California chapter of the Service Employees International Union.

The U.S. Labor Department, in the final hours of the Bush administration, has toughened standards to require most unions to publicly report nearly all compensation and expenses for officers and employees, the agency announced Friday.

Also broadened were disclosure requirements for the sale and purchase of property, with the aim of revealing whether any union officers or employees profit from the transactions.

In the alleged SEIU scandal, the Los Angeles-based local’s former president, Tyrone Freeman, has been accused by the union of enriching himself and his family with more than $1 million in misappropriated dues money. The SEIU ousted him after The Times reported on his spending practices last summer.

Unsurprisingly, union chiefs are howling, deriding the requirements as “onerous,” and calling for them to be pulled back — except for one.

An SEIU dissident, however, said he welcomed further disclosure. Sal Rosselli, president of an Oakland-based local, has feuded with the SEIU’s national leadership over the direction of the union. He said the national office has refused to fully disclose how much money it has spent on the internecine fight.

“Transparency on how unions spend their members’ dollars, from our point of view, is wanted,” Rosselli said. “We let our members look at every check.”

Rosselli’s local was recently forcibly merged into a giant “superlocal” with the scandal-riddled local formerly headed by Tyrone Freeman.

Having consistently hewed to the union line, Solis could yet surprise by taking seriously the concerns of Rosselli and others with similar criticisms. Step one is simple: First do no harm. In other words, do not scale back reporting requirements only because union bosses want the Department to do so.

In many states, workers must pay union dues as a requirement for employment, through legally imposed exclusive (i.e. monopoly) representation. Short of reform of this situation, the least workers deserve is to know where their dues are going.

For more on the Freeman scandal see here and here.

Solis: Could have been worse…but not much

by Ivan Osorio on December 18, 2008 · 1 comment

in Bailout Watch, Economy, International, Politics as Usual, Tech & Telecom

According to the Associated Press, President-elect Barack Obama is about to name Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Secretary of Labor. If Rep. Solis’s voting record is any guide to how she plans to run the Department, it is not encouraging — it consistently shows her voting in favor of greater government spending programs  favored by organized labor (including the auto maker bailout).

In addition, her apparent closeness to organized labor should be cause for concern. Labor unions, which she should be tasked with overseeing, are among her biggest campaign contributors. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, during the last election cycle, her top four donors — and 14 of her top 21 donors — were labor unions. Her relationships with union leaders are a legitimate topic that Senators should address in her confirmation hearing.

Rep. Solis’s voting record is ranked at:

So how could it have been worse? If Obama had actually named Mary Beth Maxwell, who heads the pro-union lobby group American Rights at Work, and whose name had been floated prior to today. Maxwell is a professional pro-union advocate whose organization agitates for the kind of labor regulation that has brought the Detroit Big Three (as well as some steel companies and airlines) to their current dire state — hardly what the American economy needs at this time.

So maybe the talk about Maxwell should make us thankful for small favors — very small favors. But American workers should hold on to their wallets just the same. If Rep. Solis’s labor allies were to have their way, more and more workers would be paying compulsory union dues — which then go on to support candidates the union leaders favor.