EMBOLDENING CITIZENS AND LEADERS TO STAND UP FOR OUR FUTURE September 9, 2010 
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Position: Secretary

This person is responsible for maintaining the welfare of workers, assisting the efforts of employers, and monitoring the health of the economy. She or he administers numerous employment laws and all of the Department of Labor's agencies. The Department of Labor includes more than 17,000 full-time employees and a budget approaching $60 billion.

Type of Appointment/Position: Presidential with Senate confirmation    

To research this nominee, please look for them on at the Progressive Government Institute website and Google.

David Bonior   Current Rating: click to rate
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Nominee's Background:
Obama's best choice for secretary of labor would be David Bonior, who from 1976 to 2002 served as the progressive congressman from the Macomb and St. Clair County suburbs outside Detroit, the famous district of Reagan Democrats. During his tenure, Bonior championed unions, opposed trade agreements like NAFTA, and criticized both President Reagan's Central American counter-insurgency policies and President Clinton's civil liberties policies.

After Michigan Republicans re-drew his district in 2000 and he lost a bid for governor two years later, Bonior became chair of American Rights at Work, a labor-sponsored coalition of non-union groups advocating worker rights, especially the freedom to organize unions.

That work bolsters his credentials for pushing one of organized labor's top legislative goals: the Employee Free Choice Act. The measure would provide for union recognition when a majority of workers in a workplace sign cards indicating they want a union, increase penalties for labor law violations and guarantee access to arbitration to establish a first contract if employers refuse to bargain seriously.

Leaders on both sides of the AFL-CIO/Change To Win divide respect Bonior, who managed John Edwards' presidential campaign. Bonior's time as party whip for a decade gives him experience working with Congress for what will be a tough fight on behalf of the Employee Free Choice Act, even with a large Democratic majority. And his stature would guarantee a strong voice in Obama's Cabinet for both unions and broader workers' interests, from the local workplace to the global economy.

Nominated by: David Moberg via In These Times

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