Senate GOP Puts Hold on Solis Over Support for Employee Free Choice

Senate Republicans are vowing to hold up the vote on Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis because she supports the Employee Free Choice Act.

"If there was ever a time the nation needed a strong secretary of labor, this is it," the New York Times said in an editorial. "And yet, for the past several days, at least one Republican senator has been using a parliamentary procedure to hold up the confirmation of Congresswoman Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), President Obama's choice for labor secretary."

The editorial said that Employee Free Choice and a labor secretary who backs it "would be a good thing, because strong labor unions help to push wages up by bargaining for more of the pie to go for workers' wages, rather than for bonuses and profits for executives and shareholders.

"The delay in confirming Ms. Solis isn't because the Senate needs to know more," it concluded. "It's a way for Republican senators to score tough-guy points with business constituents who are driven to distraction by the thought of unions."

Solis, the daughter of a Teamsters shop steward, has been a champion of workers for more than 15 years, starting in the California legislature and continuing in Congress, where she strongly supported the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007.

Solis is a longtime advocate of workers' rights, supporting the fight of CWA translators and interpreters for fair treatment and workers at the Chinese Daily News who wanted union representation. She co-authored the Green Jobs Act that became part of the 2007 energy bill. The bill authorized $125 million for workforce training programs targeted to veterans, displaced workers, at-risk youth and the poor.

Solis backers have created two Facebook groups in support of her nomination: They are "Americans for Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor" and "1,000,000 Strong for Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor." Sign-up for both groups is available to any Facebook member.