FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jessica Felix Romero | jessica@jwj.org | 202-293-1044 x104
Jobs With Justice Opposes Eugene Scalia for Labor Secretary
Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will hold a confirmation hearing on President Donald Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee, Eugene Scalia. Jobs With Justice opposes his nomination and asks all senators to stand with working people and vote against his nomination.
Working families demand a Labor Secretary who will look out for them. But Mr. Scalia’s has spent his career both within and outside government, looking out for the wealthiest CEOs and Wall Street investors, and has undermined the rights of working people whenever they get in the way of corporate profits.
Ahead of the hearing, Erica Smiley, Executive Director of Jobs With Justice, issued the following statement:
“As the Solicitor of Labor, DOL’s chief lawyer, Mr. Scalia fought to weaken whistleblowing protections. This is particularly troubling because much of DOL’s enforcement depends on whistleblowers. DOL solicits complaints for workplace health and safety violations, minimum wage and overtime violations, retirement fund fraud, civil rights complaints, and for violations of many other statutes within its jurisdiction. If potential whistleblowers must face a hostile Secretary of Labor, it will seriously harm DOL’s ability to enforce the laws protecting working people.
As a private attorney, Mr. Scalia fought to decrease the responsibility that corporations are obligated to ensure that working people are paid a decent wage for their labor, that worksites are safe, and that workplaces are free from discrimination. He has systematically worked to decrease the ability of working people to exercise their collective power and participate in our economy in a fair way. At every turn, he has chosen to maximize profits for CEOs, Wall Street investors, and the corporations they control at the expense of the working people for whom the Secretary of Labor is supposed to put first.
The Secretary of Labor is responsible for ensuring that the rights and dignity of working people in the United States are respected in our economy. In particular, at a time in which we as a nation are finally coming to grips with the systematic gender-based violence, harassment, and degradation suffered by women of color and white women on the job, and after the previous Secretary of Labor was forced to resign for the actions he took that protected a sexual predator, the new Secretary of Labor must have a demonstrated commitment to supporting working women and standing against gender-based violence, harassment, and degradation. Unfortunately, far from demonstrating such a commitment to working women, Mr. Scalia has repeatedly sought to protect businesses from the consequences of their discriminatory and unsafe workplaces. He should not be the next Secretary of Labor and we ask all Senators to stand with working people and oppose this nomination.”
Read Jobs With Justice’s full letter of opposition here
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