Perez has the track record to lead Labor Department

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President Obama has nominated long-time public servant Thomas E. Perez to serve as our nation’s next secretary of Labor. As leaders of Maryland’s Workforce Investment Board, we had the opportunity to work closely with Perez when he served as secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation.
 
As Congress considers reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act, the federal legislation key to so many of the state and local programs we worked on in Maryland, Perez' experience working on this and related issues can be a crucial addition to the national debate.

Perez’s lengthy public service experience and extensive record of collaboration with businesses to address critical workforce development needs makes him uniquely qualified to head the U.S. Department of Labor.
 
During Perez’s time in Maryland, we worked directly with him to institute a set of reforms to strengthen Maryland’s workforce system that helped both businesses and workers. Perez worked to expand training for those already on the job, engage business and industry in workforce training policy, and connect unemployed and underemployed workers to much-needed education, training and, most importantly, good jobs.
 
In the past, a college education or advanced training beyond high school was not required to earn a decent living and to meet the demands of the labor market. But in today’s economy, education and training beyond high school is the difference between poverty and family-sustaining careers. Perez understood that educating and preparing workers for skilled jobs would not only help Maryland’s families, but also its employers and its economy.
 
In the next five years, nearly 80 percent of the jobs in Maryland will require some skills or credentials beyond a high school education. Most of them will be positions that require more than a high school diploma, but not necessarily a four-year degree. These are the jobs we are struggling to fill here in Maryland, and we know it’s the same for other employers throughout the country. If we can’t find people with the latest technical credentials to fill those positions, we cannot expand or compete. We cannot create new jobs.
 
Perez worked with us and other employers in Maryland to ensure industry-driven solutions to this critical issue. Under his leadership, the state convened hundreds of businesses from health care, manufacturing, construction, biotech, and information technology to develop the partnerships needed to address the problem.  
 
He ensured that workforce development efforts were inclusive of all Marylanders, and fit the needs of both workers and businesses – whether it was re-training ex-offenders transitioning out of jail and into a new life; helping qualified foreign-born nurses get licensed so they could help meet immediate hospital needs; or strengthening Science Technology, Engineering and Math education for workers in Maryland’s high tech sector.
 
He took a creative and innovative approach to expanding training options for dislocated workers, veterans, and low-wage, low-skilled and non-English speaking adults, including those who needed better reading, math or English-language skills.
 
Perez brought together all those with a vested interest in a better skilled workforce – businesses, workers, educators, union leaders and community and support service providers – to find solutions that were good for workers, helped businesses grow, and strengthened Maryland’s economy. With his experience, we know he can make a substantial impact on ensuring that our nation’s workforce is well trained, highly skilled and second to none in the world. We look forward to his confirmation, and to the leadership he will bring to this effort in Washington, D.C.

Robertson is the former chairman and Peterson is the former vice chairman of the Governor’s Workforce Investment Board (Maryland).
 
Note: Robertson is the president and CEO of Adventist HealthCare in Rockville, Maryland. Peterson is president of Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Their opinions do not represent official positions of either institution.
 

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Remarks by the President Announcing the Nomination of Thomas Perez for Secretary of Labor

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

East Room

11:47 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Everybody have a seat.  Have a seat.  As I’ve said before, my top priority as President is doing everything we need to do to make sure that we’re growing our economy and that we’re strengthening our middle class.  And as I said in my State of the Union address last month, every day we should be asking ourselves three questions.  One -- how do we make sure America is a magnet for good jobs?  Number two -- how do we equip people with the skills they need to get those jobs?  And number three -- how do we make sure that hard work actually pays off in a decent living?

These are the challenges that I’ve instructed my team here at the White House and in my entire Cabinet to focus on.  And a position that’s instrumental to tackling these challenges is having an outstanding Secretary of Labor.

So I want to begin by thanking Hilda Solis and her entire team -- (applause) -- including Acting Secretary Seth Harris -- (applause) -- for the outstanding work that they’ve been doing over the past four years.  Their efforts at the Department of Labor have given more young people a chance to earn new skills, more returning vets the chance to find a job.  They’ve looked out for worker safety from construction sites to coal mines.  They’ve stood up for workers’ rights to organize, women’s rights to get paid equally for the work that they do.  They’ve done an extraordinary job fighting on behalf of working families across the board.

And today, I’m proud to nominate a leader to carry on those efforts as America’s next Secretary of Labor -- Tom Perez.  (Applause.)

Like so many Americans, Tom knows what it’s like to climb the ladder of opportunity.  He is the son of Dominican immigrants.  He helped pay his way through college as a garbage collector and working at a warehouse.  He went on to become the first lawyer in his family.  So his story reminds us of this country’s promise, that if you’re willing to work hard, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what your last name is -- you can make it if you try.

And Tom has made protecting that promise -- for everybody  -- the cause of his life.  As a civil rights attorney, an aide to Senator Ted Kennedy, a member of the Montgomery, Maryland County Council, Tom fought for a level playing field where hard work and responsibility are rewarded and working families can get ahead. 

And this is not the first time that he’s chosen to be a labor secretary, either.  We’ve got here today Governor Martin O’Malley, and Martin appointed Tom as Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Labor, where he helped implement the country’s first statewide living-wage law, because he understood that a minimum wage should be a wage that you can live on. 

In his current role as the head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Tom has fought to open pathways into the workforce for everyone willing to contribute, including people with disabilities, LGBT Americans, and immigrants.  And he has helped settle some of the largest cases ever on behalf of families targeted by unfair mortgage lending.

Now, while he’s tackled plenty of tough issues, Tom has also spent a career as a consensus-builder.  He’s worked with CEOs, he's worked with labor leaders.  He's worked at federal, state, and local government levels.  And throughout, he understands that our economy works best when the middle class and those working to get into the middle class have the security they need on the job, a democratic voice in the workplace, everybody playing by the same set of rules.

So Tom’s knowledge and experience will make him an outstanding Secretary of Labor.  And there’s plenty of work to do.  We're going to have to work very hard to make sure that folks find jobs with good wages and good benefits.  We've got to make sure that our veterans who are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan have a chance to put their incredible skills and leadership to work at home.  We need to build an immigration system that works for every employee and every family and every business.  I'm confident that Tom is going to be able to work to promote economic growth, but also make sure that that growth is broad-based.  And he's going to be an integral part of our overall economic team. 

So these are just a few of the many challenges working families out there are facing and where they need an advocate, and Tom is the right person for that job.  So I hope that the Senate will act swiftly to confirm Tom so we can work together to address all these concerns.  I want to thank not only Tom but his wonderful family for agreeing to take on this new role.  I just heard that Tom has been coaching basketball and baseball.  He doesn’t claim to be a great coach -- (laughter) -- but he brings passion to it.  He may end up missing a few of the games over the next several months, but it's going to be for a good cause.  And I appreciate his family being willing to make these sacrifices as well.

So with that, I would like to introduce my nominee to be our next Secretary of Labor, give him a chance to say a few words.  And, again, I'd urge the Senate to confirm him as quickly as possible. 

Mr. Tom Perez.  (Applause.) 

MR. PEREZ:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  Thank you, Mr. President, for your confidence in me.  (Speaks in Spanish.)  It is a remarkably humbling and exciting phenomenon to be here today.

My parents taught my four siblings and me to work hard, to give back to our community, and to make sure that the ladder of opportunity was there for those coming after us.  Over my career, I’ve learned that true progress is possible if you keep an open mind, listen to all sides, and focus on results.  I look forward to taking these lessons with me, if confirmed, to my new role as Secretary of the Department of Labor. 

As you well know, our nation still faces critical economic challenges, and the Department’s mission is as important as ever.  I am confident that together with our partners in organized labor, the business community, grassroots communities, Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike, we can keep making progress for all working families. 

In the coming weeks, as the confirmation process unfolds, I look forward to meeting with senators of both parties to discuss the Labor Department’s key role -- protecting and growing the middle class.

I’ll close again, Mr. President, by thanking you once again for this tremendous opportunity.  (Speaks in Spanish.)  I look forward to this opportunity to continue serving our nation. 

Thank you so much.  (Applause.)

END 
11:55 A.M. EDT

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What You Need To Know About Thomas Perez, Obama’s Likely Labor Nominee

President Obama will reportedly choose Thomas Perez, an assistant attorney general who oversees the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, to replace outgoing Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. Perez, a popular pick among labor and Latino groups, is expected to be nominated this week, according to various news reports. Should he be confirmed by the Senate, Perez will take over Labor at a time when Obama and Democrats are pushing for immigration reform and a minimum wage increase.

Before his current role began, Perez served in Bill Clinton’s Justice Dept., as a city council member in Montgomery County, Maryland, and as the head of Maryland’s state labor department. And while Perez has spent the last four years leading the administration’s challenges to new voter restrictions, his past also includes experience fighting to protect and expand workers’ rights:

Fought worker exploitation and human trafficking: Perez served on the Worker Exploitation Task Force, which sought to protect vulnerable workers, while working in the Justice Dept. under Attorney General Janet Reno. The task force aimed to fight “modern day slavery” that resulted from human trafficking, discrimination in labor markets, and other exploitative practices, according to Senate testimony from former officials. The task force secured multiple convictions involving the trafficking and exploitation of women and children workers, and helped lead to calls around the country for stronger anti-trafficking laws both at the federal and state level.

Pushed for labor protections for domestic workers: Millions of domestic workers in the United States make low wages because they aren’t protected by labor law, a problem Perez sought to address while serving on Montgomery County’s City Council, where he pushed for contractual labor law protections and a minimum wage for such workers. After three years of debate, and after Perez had left the council, those protections became law in 2008 and gave domestic workers contractual labor rights they still lack in most of the United States.

Protected immigrant workers from losing pay: Perez would take over the Dept. of Labor in the middle of Obama’s push for immigration reform, and he has experience dealing with immigration and labor issues. While serving in the Justice Dept., Perez investigated claims that employers were using Alabama’s new immigration law to avoid paying immigrant workers. “We continue to be concerned that certain employers may be using HB56 as an excuse not to pay workers,” he said, adding that he would “throw the book” at employers who weren’t paying workers. “We’re here. We will prosecute you. That is impermissible, period.”

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