According to the AP (and picked up by various other sources) Rep. Hilda Solis of California will be Barack Obama's pick for labor secretary. Solis would thus become the third Latino to be chosen for the president-elect’s cabinet behind Bill Richardson and Senator Ken Salazar.Solis recently won her fifth consecutive term in Congress and is of Honduran and Mexican background. She was the first Latina to serve in California’s legislature and has always been a strong labor advocate:
Solis, in 1994, was the first Latina elected to the California Senate, where she led the battle to increase the state's minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.75 an hour in 1996.Image- Los Angeles Times
In Congress, she wrote a measure that authorized $125 million for work force training programs in areas such as energy efficiency retrofitting and "green building" construction.
Andy Stern, president of the 1.9-million member Service Employees International Union, the 51-year-old praised Solis for her deep roots in the union movement. He recalled marching with her in Los Angeles — well before she was elected to Congress — to seek higher wages and benefits for janitors.
"We were with her fighting for the rights of people who work from the beginning and we're so proud that she's been chosen to be the labor secretary," Stern said.
Sources- The Latin Americanist, AP, politico.com, CBS News, ABC News, MarketWatch
Hey. My name is Maria and I'm part of a group of student activists working towards the passage of the DREAM Act (www.dreamACTivist.org). I wanted to make you aware of an idea being discussed and voted on over at Change.org regarding this important issue. The link is http://www.change.org/ideas/view/pass_the_dream_act_now.
ReplyDeleteWe currently have over 1300 votes and are one of the top 3 ideas on the whole website. However, the second round of voting begins in January 5th and the top 10 ideas will be presented to the Obama administration and will have a lot of publicity, something we desperately need. I urge you to register (it only takes a couple of minutes) and vote for this idea and put a widget of it on your blog to make others aware of this important cause. Also, please vote for the other immigration ideas on the top 3 list to make sure they make it to the second round.
Thank you so much for your help!
good lucl Maria M.
ReplyDeleteObamanos needs to immediately start HEMP cultivation, but his appt of bilarybush-cheney leave slots to de desired she needs to come clean Mena , AK and his poor choice for Ag Sec'y is horrendous
as big ag biz supporter, so he seems same as all past 30 years of Bilderburg Bohemian Grove idiots
and USA is good to get out of Latin America unless all is positive
and half the military at once on Jan 20th
Viva La Revolucion