On Wednesday, the Senate Appropriations subcommittee had Elaine over to testify about the nearly $1 billion dispersed by the Labor Department under her tenure.

Labor Secretary Chao, appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, defends the administration’s $53.1 billion FY 2009 budget request for DOL against criticisms that it devotes too little attention to worker safety and job training and too much attention to investigating unions. (BNA, sub req’d)

Specifically, Senators wondered whatever happened to about $273 million handed out without any competition or oversight.

“This GAO report confirms what Congress already believes-that there hasn’t been appropriate oversight and accountability in how these grants have been administered,” said Rachel Gragg, director of federal policy for the Workforce Alliance in Washington. “These grants are circumventing the current workforce development system.”

“Under this administration, the Labor Department’s ability to … support a prepared and competitive workforce has declined significantly,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa and chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the agency, in prepared testimony at a hearing Wednesday, May 7.

Elaine’s response? We don’t really know what she’s even talking about:

Too many people lack “the training they need, and that’s a tragedy,” Chao said.

And workers in the system can be misguided. “We’re training people for jobs that don’t exist,” she said.

Riiight. So even though they lack training, and you’re training people for “jobs that don’t exist,” it’s still a good idea to cut the training budget by 16%, which is what Elaine advocated for on Wednesday.

It’s becoming more and more clear that Elaine Chao has effectively run the Department of Labor into the ground, screwing America’s workers day in and day out. By the time she leaves, the next administration is going to have a lot to repair.

We have lots of Elaine news from the last week, so kick back and check out what we have on our shady, shifty, shoddy Secretary of Labor.

Shady Appointees: Elaine lets appointee hide behind diplomatic immunity. Last month, Elaine met with the NAFTA council—the body that could waive diplomatic immunity for lobbyist and former official Mark Knouse. Knouse is the one whose numerous questionable expenses—nearly $10,000 in travel expenditures and about $1 million in shady contracts and vendor payments—forced him to resign. So did Elaine bring this to the NAFTA council? You guess.

Shoddy work: House votes to force Elaine to act. In April, we reported on a House hearing held because Elaine’s OSHA has failed to create comprehensive combustible dust regulations. Last week the House of Representatives got fed up, and voted to require OSHA to write safety standards for combustible dust in workplaces.

Federal regulators would have to come up with new ways to prevent combustible dust explosions in factories under legislation passed by the House… The bill now goes to the Senate, but the White House already has said President Bush would veto it. Despite worker deaths, Congressional votes, Elaine and her buddy President Bush still don’t seem to think combustible dust is a problem.

Read more…

This week the Washington Post published a story we’ve been hoping to see since the start of our campaign - Elaine’s Labor Department has been doling out millions in noncompetitive grants at taxpayers’ expense, with little or no oversight for how the money was used:

In the past seven years, the Labor Department awarded more than $271 million to groups to help train workers for high-demand jobs, but a new audit suggests that the agency often failed to ensure the public was getting something for its tax dollars.

The Labor Department inspector general found that one of President Bush’s signature initiatives to better prepare the American workforce for industry changes was giving money to industry and nonprofit groups with almost no competition and little oversight.

You’ll remember that the woman in charge of all this, Emily DeRocco, recently left the Labor Department for a lucrative job at NAM, the same organization to which she doled out at least half a million dollars while at the DOL.

When DeRocco’s replacement was asked about the report’s serious allegations, his response was deeply disturbing:

Brent Orrell, acting assistant secretary for the Employment and Training Administration, which was supposed to monitor the grants, wrote that it was “not necessary or valuable” to measure and evaluate all grant results.

We’re troubled that Elaine seems not to see the problem: she told a congressional panel she was “passionate” about her questionable system, and even bragged to a Chamber of Commerce audience about the millions of taxpayer dollars doled out through non-competitive grants.

We’re looking forward to the continued investigation of these serious charges, as this is the second report from Elaine’s own agency that faults her for this lapse.

Today marks Workers Memorial Day, observed annually to honor workers who have died on the job due to the negligence of others. As in years past, this holiday leaves us no cause for celebration - Workers Memorial Day serves as a grim reminder that our own government agencies responsible for protecting workers, particularly OSHA and MSHA, have been asleep at the wheel under Elaine’s watch.  

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Yesterday we observed Equal Pay Day on April 22, which marks how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man did in the previous year. As Mary Beth Maxwell wrote recently:

In 2007, women earned only 80 cents for every dollar a man earned. This pay gap was substantially greater for minorities, with African-American women making only 70 cents and Hispanic women making only 62 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.

But Elaine and Mitch don’t see a problem: in 2006 Elaine claimed the pay gap had shrunk, when all that really happened was men’s wages fell, women didn’t gain. Under Elaine’s watch, the administration also tried to cut resources for the agency that gives women information about harassment, discrimination, family leave, and childcare.

Today, Mitch McConnell led the charge in the Senate that defeated the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a bill that would restore the law to its original intent and help ensure that women earn equal pay for equal work. Of course, Mitch got caught distorting the truth about the bill.

It is kinda funny that a female Labor Secretary would be so silent on the issue of equal pay. Then again, Elaine doesn’t have anything to worry about: her own pay has already been raised.

Are you ready for another one of Elaine’s shady appointees? Meet Mark Knouse, husband of Elaine’s executive assistant, Pennsylvania lobbyist and former head of the NAFTA-related Commission for Labor Cooperation (CLC). The tri-national CLC is supposed to research and uphold labor law and labor standards in North America.

But according to a recent report from the Labor Department’s Inspector General, Knouse improperly used CLC funds…to the tune of nearly $10,000 in travel expenditures and about $1 million in shady contracts and vendor payments.

While he was head of the CLC, Knouse maintained a private lobbying business, despite CLC rules to the contrary. In 2006, it surfaced that Knouse used taxpayer money from three countries to fund his own private lobbying efforts. Knouse was asked to resign, but because the CLC is an international body, Knouse has diplomatic immunity for his actions while in office.

Guess who has authority to waive immunity? That’s right: Elaine and her CLC buddies. Despite the Inspector General’s request that immunity be waived, Elaine and CLC has done nothing.

Last week, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Elaine, asking her to waive immunity. If she doesn’t, Mark Knouse will be another one of many unqualified cronies Elaine has allowed to wreak havoc on America’s workers with taxpayer dollars.

This just in: DC Labor reports that even Elaine Chao’s cafeteria workers are struggling for their fair share from Chao’s Department of Labor (from DCLabor.org newsletter, no permanent link yet):

…Department of Labor (DOL) cafeteria workers - who have been working without a contract for over a year - are fighting employer demands for major concessions. FAME - the contractor who took over DOL cafeteria services in 2007 - has demanded workers agree to a 412% increase in their healthcare contributions, lower wages rates and wage freezes, reports the workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 25

Ouch. Metro Washington Labor Council President Jos Williams called Elaine out on Wednesday. Williams spoke at the DOL before a screening of “Mother Jones,” a documentary about the legendary labor activist Mary Harris “Mother” Jones:

Metro Council President Jos Williams noted that Mother Jones was called “the most dangerous woman in America” because of her battles on behalf of workers, adding that Labor Secretary Elaine Chao “is the second most dangerous woman in America, because of her actions against workers.”

More on why Elaine doesn’t want San Franciscans to have health insurance, after the jump.

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The Wall Street Journal published an article yesterday summarizing the recent firestorm surrounding OSHA chief Edwin G. Foulke, former unionbuster and the do-nothing protector of your health and safety. The article also addressed some fast-flying rumors of Edwin’s potential premature departure from OSHA:

Mr. Foulke, appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate, has headed OSHA, part of the Labor Department, since 2006. OSHA denied a recent report in a trade publication that Mr. Foulke plans to leave the agency before Mr. Bush leaves office. Mr. Foulke wasn’t available for comment.

The biggest criticism of OSHA under Mr. Foulke centers on the agency’s preference for seeking voluntary compliance from employers on safety goals rather than establishing new mandatory regulations. “OSHA’s No. 1 responsibility is to set rules and enforce them. OSHA has not lived up to this promise,” said Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat.

When asked about these serious charges, Elaine’s mouthpiece acted like a broken record, trotting out a tired defense and playing the victim:

“Election-year partisan attacks go with the territory,” said Labor Department spokesman David James. “Worker-fatality, injury and illness rates are at record lows under this administration’s leadership.”

Read more…

Ouch. After two separate government reports in ten days slammed Elaine Chao’s negligence on mine safety, her hometown paper decided to speak up. The paper is rightly furious: Elaine Chao’s negligence is inexcusable. (The editorial’s last sentence is the best.)

Why the delay? Yes, there’s a shortage of required equipment. But also, coal operators say they can’t get a straight answer from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration about what should be in their emergency response plans. But, the Government Accountability Office says enforcement of more than 350 citations written since 2006 by MSHA, for unsafe practices and conditions, varies widely.

What seems to be happening is that George W. Bush’s coal regulators, working under Labor Secretary Elaine Chao of Kentucky, are marking time until they get marching orders from the next administration.

If coal miners and their advocates, as opposed to coal industry givers, were part of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s re-election money machine, you might see some action.

Republicans like Big Coal. Their party took some $2 million from the mining industry in the 2006 election cycle alone. And Sen. McConnell objects to any suggestion that there’s something wrong with that.

Easy for Mr. McConnell and Ms. Chao to say. They don’t have to make a living in needlessly dangerous holes in the ground.

Read the whole thing.

The hidden costs of free trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA took a tremendous toll on our country: one million jobs disappeared, countless communities collapsed, and workers’ rights were exploited at home and abroad.

But now President George W. Bush and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao want another free trade deal - this time with Colombia. The Colombian free trade agreement (FTA) fails to meaningfully address a severe Colombian crisis: union members there are regularly assassinated.

Violence against union members is pervasive in Colombia, and the country’s president has done little to stop the attacks. This year, trade unionists are being murdered at the staggering rate of over one a week, meaning that this year could shape up to be even worst than the last.

Believe it or not, Elaine Chao doesn’t think union member assassinations are a problem. In spite of the ongoing violence, Elaine Chao argues that because fewer union members are being killed than in the worst years, we should implement the trade agreement.

Tell your Members of Congress and Secretary Elaine Chao that you oppose the Colombia free trade agreement.

Together, we can stop this.