UFW applauds Labor Secretary nominee Tom Perez’s challenge to Arizona anti-immigrant law, looking forward to another champion for farm workers’ rights
United Farm Workers President Arturo S. Rodriguez issued the following statement from the union’s Keene, Calif. headquarters following President Obama’s nomination of Tom Perez as the new U.S. Secretary of Labor.
Keene, CA – Although we have not met Tom Perez, we applaud him for his intervention against Arizona’s anti-immigrant law while head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil rights Division. His record there speaks for itself.
One of Labor Secretary Hilda S. Solis’ first acts upon assuming office was reinstating protections for imported farm workers that were removed from the nation’s agricultural guest worker program during the last days of the Bush administration in 2009. By eliminating the Bush rules, Secretary Solis denied agricultural employers easy access to cheap foreign labor with little government oversight.
Secretary Solis demonstrated her passion for championing the rights of farm workers and all America workers during four momentous years as President Obama’s labor secretary. We look to the same commitment and dedication to workers’ rights under Tom Perez’s tenure at the Department of Labor. We also look forward to opportunities for Mr. Perez to meet with farm workers.
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