Finally, Obama has a nominee I can get behind

I got pretty excited on Tuesday when I read about Obama’s Nominee for Labor Department Head, Thomas Perez. Bryce Covert wrote about it for The Nation, but given Obama’s track record I think I’ll have a tempered optimism. [Aside, I’m writing this in advance because I’m on vacation this week so I’m assuming President Obama is nominating Thomas Perez.]

 

Perez is currently the assistant attorney general for civil rights, and he really looks like a progressive you guys. He cracked down on voting restrictions, police brutality, harassment against LGBT students, and other issues at the Department of Justice while bring a history of promoting immigration reform and labor rights. *sigh of relief*

 

Way back in the early 200s, Perez ran for Maryland’s Montgomery County Council and won, which made him the second person of color elected to that body (progressive Maryland). While there, he pushed the domestic workers bill of rights. *mind blown* The bill passed after this left the council, but it required those who employ domestic workers to care for their children to give workers a written contract detailing their wages and benefits and to obtain a written statement if a worker declines the offer; it requires the employers provide line-in help with a separate room that has a lock to sleep in and to ensure “reasonable access” to a bathroom, the kitchen, and laundry room. The original bill also included a minimum wage of $10.50 an hour and mandatory paid leave and health insurance, but these provisions were stripped from the bill.

 

Domestic workers in the US are entitled to a minimum wage and overtime, but most workers don’t know their rights and few can access them. State level bills seek to codify these rights and guarantee others, and organize an industry that is exceptionally difficult to organize.

 

I’ve mentioned in the past both New York passage of the law and California’s Jerry Brown killing it last year, but it was reintroduced this year. At the same time this movement is gaining speed, home health aids may be getting some good news from the Department of Labor; they will be protected by national labor laws. Yep, because we excluded people from labor laws. Specifically, home health aids have been excluded from minimum wage and overtime laws, but a DOL rule change could grant them these protections.

 

Domestic workers and home health aids are two fast growing industries in the US, and we need to extend labor protections to them. They frequently suffer from poor working conditions, low pay, and few benefits. State level bills could ensure that these workers are valued even with a federal rule change.

 

Perez could be a friend to these workers as they continue to fight for labor protections. Given Perez’s history of supporting domestic workers’ rights and support for immigration reform, he could be a great asset bringing attention to the movement.