Taking it to the Streets, DOL Style

by | Apr 19, 2012 | Labor Relations Ink

Not to be out-done by the dramatics over at the NLRB, Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has approved a series of motivational posters for DOL employees (Jealous?) that elevate Solis from lifelong do-nothing political appointee to transformational leader in the war to stop the capitalist re-enslavement of all mankind. The poster is raising more than a few eyebrows in Washington for what seems a fairly inelegant attempt to radicalize a government agency that should at least at times appear even-handed.  In a letter to Solis complaining about the posters, Rep. Joe Walsh, R-IL said some department employees have complained to him about the posters’ bald-faced politicizing of their work and the veiled call to civil disobedience. The first poster features a backlit close-up of Solis marching arm in arm with Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and other leftwing luminaries at a demonstration in Atlanta just last month.  The poster also carries a personal message from Solis that further confuses the mission of the DOL with that of any one of a hundred other union front organizations.  “Whether we take to the streets or simply do our work with integrity and commitment here at the U.S. Department of Labor . . . we are all marching towards the same goals: safer workplaces, fair pay, dignity on the job, secure retirement and opportunities to make a better life.  I believe in the power of collective action.” It should come as no surprise given her background that Solis believes in the power of street protest over the power of free enterprise.  It’s also been clear since her appointment that Solis has nothing on her Department’s to-do list about clearing a path through onerous regulations to private sector job growth or even devising a Big Government band-aid for chronic unemployment.   Instead Solis has the DOL hard at work shoring up Big Union’s core premise – in America the jobs are unsafe, the pay is unfair, and the work is without dignity.

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