Labor Secretary Hilda Solis rewarded six former staffers from her congressional office with political appointments and huge raises upon taking over at the Department of Labor. The appointees had significant pay increases averaging 50 percent upon changing jobs; one employee’s salary nearly doubled. Solis, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California, began hiring the employees shortly after she was confirmed by the Senate in February 2009. Political appointments are non-competitive government jobs that differ from career positions, which often involve a long hiring process. The information …
According to the United States Department of Labor, the nation’s unemployment rate has already risen to 9.5%. The Obama administration is predicting that the nation’s unemployment rate will soon rise above 10% and the Federal Reserve predicts unemployment could stay above that 10% mark for sometime. One would think, therefore, that the Obama administration would do everything in their power to stop federal government policies from causing even more job losses. You’d be wrong. Today the Obama administration is not just allowing, but celebrating, a job- and opportunity-killing raise in …
Barack Obama can’t seem to win for losing when it comes to his nominees. Earlier this week, I wrote about the possible ethics violations committed by Congresswoman Hilda Solis, who has been nominated by President Obama to head the Labor Department. Not only was she the treasurer and on the board of directors of American Rights at Work, an organization lobbying Congress on bills she cosponsored, but she failed to reveal that information as required on financial disclosure forms until January 29. The nomination of Solis was supposed to be …
The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus noticed that Obama’s labor secretary nominee Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) was a little less than forthcoming at her Senate confirmation hearing yesterday: Should President Obama lift the Bush-era executive order requiring that federally funded construction projects be open to both union and nonunion contractors? “Senator, I would just say to you that that is an item of great interest to me. I think that that is something that I am not able to speak to you [about] at this time but will like to review …
Today may well turn out to be a major turning point in the history of the labor movement, and not because Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) will face questions at her Secretary of Labor confirmation hearings in the Senate. No, the bigger story is the voice vote conference call Service Employees International Union president Andy Stern has scheduled for 2 pm today. If things go the way Stern plans, the SEIU board will approve the forced break up of the third largest SEIU affiliate in the country, SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West …
