Political appointees at the Department of Labor are moving with unusual speed to push through in the final months of the Bush administration a rule making it tougher to regulate workers’ on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins.

Nice priorities, Elaine. As the Post aptly points out:

The department’s speed in trying to make the regulatory change contrasts with its reluctance to alter workplace safety rules over the past 7 1/2 years. In that time, the department adopted only one major health rule for a chemical in the workplace, and it did so under a court order.

Unsurprisingly, this is another effort being driven by the policy office—staffed by political appointees—which doesn’t seem eager to consult the people whose job it is to conduct this kind of regulation.  The official in charge:

…initially did not consult scientific and workplace-risk-assessment experts in OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, according to sources briefed on her work.

This isn’t the first time Elaine’s Labor Department has put business in front of worker safety and well-being, and it probably won’t be the last. We need more investigations like this so the public can get a clear picture of Elaine Chao’s shameful “legacy.”

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Readers were treated to creative fiction in the weekend interview with Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. Ms. Chao is in fact working overtime to advance a positive legacy for herself, while sidestepping any accountability for her role in dismantling policies that create real opportunities for America’s workers.

In the last seven years, Ms. Chao has hijacked the Department of Labor to benefit big business. From advising companies on how to avoid overtime to siding with industry to ditch critical ergonomic rules, her administration has failed in its mission to protect working women and men in this country.

But in the interview Ms. Chao shamefully went as far as touting the decline of union membership. Even in expressing concern about our deteriorating economy, she refuses to recognize the positive impact of unions, which offer the chance to raise living standards, improve health care, halt outsourcing, and stop corporate America’s race to the bottom.

Among her many anti-worker positions, Ms. Chao defiantly opposes the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would allow workers to freely form unions and help prop up our struggling economy. It’s only a secret to Ms. Chao and those in her circle of influence that in these tough times workers need more opportunities to get ahead through unions.

As President Bush’s only original cabinet member still standing, Ms. Chao has proven to be one of the most anti-worker secretaries of labor in history. It is important that her legacy is accurately portrayed so that the next secretary of labor will fully understand the uphill battle he or she faces to restore workers’ rights.

Mary Beth Maxwell
Executive Director
American Rights at Work
Washington

Here’s our original post on the subject.

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For more than seven years, Ms. Chao has run a department that has tilted toward employers and failed to properly enforce labor laws.

 The Times picks up the latest in the litany of DOL failures: a congressional hearing and a report from the Government Accountability Office on the negligence at the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division.  In case you hadn’t heard:

It found that the division failed to adequately investigate complaints that workers were not paid the minimum wage, were denied mandatory overtime or were not paid their last paychecks.

In one case, a delivery truck driver complained that he was not being paid for overtime that he had earned. The complaint languished for more than 17 months before an investigator was assigned. Then, the case was soon closed because the statute of limitations was about to run out.

The division dropped another case, in which disabled children were allegedly being paid cash by a trucking company to operate large machinery in violation of child-labor laws, because its investigators could not locate the employer. The G.A.O. had little trouble finding a company that appears to be the one cited in the complaint.

These cases are appalling, but this G.A.O. report is just the tip of the iceberg.  There aren’t enough column inches in the Times to detail every facet of the failure that is Elaine’s administration.  From dangerous negligence at MSHA and OSHA, to doling out millions in noncompetitive grants at taxpayers’ expense, to the incompetent industry insiders appointed to key posts, Elaine’s tenure at the DOL has been a disaster through and through.  The truth is:

…the real problem at the department is not one of competence, but of ideology.  The first step in getting the nation’s laws enforced again will be entrusting enforcement to people who believe in them. We hope the next president will do that.

We couldn’t agree more.

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“It’s really a land of meritocracy, where it doesn’t matter where you were born, who you know. If a person works hard, most of the time . . .” On this last point, Ms. Chao’s words trail off, as the current state of the economy seems to be weighing on her mind.

Riiight.  Because nothing says “meritocracy” like appointing your husband’s friends, hiding your friend and shady lobbyist behind diplomatic immunity, and opening a virtual revolving door for anti-union corporate hacks (and much more).

Let’s next take a look at her out-of-whack priorities:

“I have a whole list here,” she says, of what Congress could do to hobble economic growth, and it includes legislation that is gaining traction on Capitol Hill. Every measure would make it more expensive to employ people in America, or would make it easier for unions to capture a larger slice of the workforce.

Chao says making it easier for workers to join unions would hobble economic growth.  But the interviewer then takes an about-face, recognizing that when more workers are in unions, they have higher lifetime earnings and better employment.

In 1979, 24.1% of American workers belonged to a union. Today only 12.1% do, and the number falls to 7.5% for those who do not work for the government. Whether a worker has a college or even a high-school diploma is now much more important for lifetime earnings and employment than whether he has a union card.

So, backtrack.  More workers in unions means more money for workers.  Less workers in unions means less money for workers.  But Chao also thinks more workers in unions means “hobbled economic growth.”  So she ignores the best solution to fix the economy and decides to decry the “Europeanization of America” and focus all of the Department of Labor’s energies on “job training.”

Did you head just explode?  Mine too.

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New federal regulations aimed at strengthening the seals that protect coal miners from dangerous inactive sections of underground mines are inadequate because they ignore a key congressional directive, a lawmaker says.  The problem: they don’t cover the 14,000 existing seals in mines — and thus limit the protection for miners.

Frankly, your Shame on Elaine bloggers are getting pretty tired of writing the same story over and over: Elaine’s agency ignores recommendations and directives, protects industry, and shirks its responsibility to protect workers’ health and safety.  But our frustration is nothing compared to that of mine workers and their families:

Melissa Lee, widow of Darby miner Jimmy Lee, said MSHA needs to be held accountable for not dealing with existing seals.

A miner could work near a weak and leaking seal today, she said.

“It’s going to be Kentucky Darby all over again,” Lee said. “It’s going to be another husband taken away from his wife or another father taken away from his child.”

Please, Elaine.  Don’t just ride out the rest of your term fundraising and campaigning for political allies and your husband’s colleagues.  Take worker health and safety seriously.

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Kentucky video blogger James Pence was on the scene, and put together this video of Chao and her entourage leaving the parlor.

(more…)

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When congressional hearings open soon, somebody should check the implementation claims made by federal Mine Safety and Health Administration officials on the second anniversary of the MINER Act.

They bragged about hiring 332 coal mine inspectors, but that was a net increase of only 163, since so many of those filled vacant positions. Remember, under the leadership of President Bush and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, the number of inspectors was cut by 18 percent, at a time when the number of mines rose by 9 percent.

In the new fiscal year, Mr. Bush proposes a 6.5 percent reduction in coal mine enforcement funds…Earlier cutbacks are blamed for MSHA’s failure to complete mandatory mine inspections in some areas.

And as we’ve noted:

The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said in April that MSHA has been inconsistent in telling mine operators what their emergency response plans should include and enforcing safety laws across the country.

Some legacy, Elaine.

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Sunday, June 8, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

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U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao issued the following statement on the May employment situation report released today:

“Today’s increase in the unemployment rate reflects the fact that unusually large numbers of students and graduates are entering the labor market.”

For those following at home, the aforementioned “May employment situation” is the largest jump in unemployment since 1986.  That’s 49,000 lost jobs for a total unemployment rate of 5.5%.

But as EPI notes (via Mother Jones), Elaine’s “blame the kids” excuse doesn’t explain everything.

An increase in the youth labor force played a role in May’s unemployment spike. However, even if we take teenagers out of the data, unemployment still rises from 4.5% to 4.8%, a considerable 0.3% increase, and well above the 4.0% adult rate of one-year ago.

Elaine Chao is still in denial about America’s economic crisis.  What will wake her up?

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