While most Americans are struggling in this economy, one with rising unemployment, skyrocketing energy prices and rampant outsourcing, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao has more important matters to attend to rather than address the challenges of America’s workers.

Serving on the seven-member US delegation to the Beijing Olympics, Elaine praised the games for giving China the opportunity to “introduce its history, culture, and values to the world.”

History and culture we can understand, but what values is Chao speaking of? Flagrant human rights abuses? Child labor? Unfair trade practices? Please Elaine, tell us what kind of values the Chinese government should be proud of…Americans and others who have suffered from abusive Chinese policies would like to know.   

Following up on an earlier article by the Washington Post on Elaine’s last-minute attempt to reduce workplace toxin regulations, The New York Times today slammed the Department of Labor over its latest move to screw workers from workplace safety and protection:

As time runs out on a do-nothing agency, the proposal is now listed as the department’s top priority, hurriedly leapfrogging ahead of such earlier concerns as workplace risks from silica, beryllium and other dangerous substances, and the growing problem of construction crane accidents.

It’s pathetic to discover President Bush’s team investing its closing months on one more sop to industry. It signals that the regulatory mess facing the next president continues to grow, since the stealth games at Labor are likely being duplicated in other agencies.

Perhaps if Elaine and her minions had to work jobs where they were exposed to toxins that can have permanent debilitating effects on one’s health, they would have a change of heart and stand up to their big industry cronies.

One wonders how they sleep at night.

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.

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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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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.”

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Today is the birthday of legendary Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in a Cabinet position. It’s probably good that Frances never had to see Elaine Chao’s administration. For while the two women served in the same position, Frances and Elaine could hardly be more different:

Fire Safety Awareness

• Frances once said “The continued existence of industrial hazards, both accident and health, in our great American factories is one of our oldest disgraces”. Witnessing the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, in which hundreds of workers died in a locked factory, led a young Frances to redouble her efforts to fight workplace hazards.
• Under Elaine’s watch, the Labor Department has been asleep at the wheel when it comes to worker safety. And Elaine has done nothing to require regulation of combustible dust—even after a tragic explosion in Georgia killed twelve workers.

Respect for Unions

• Frances supported workers’ rights to organize unions and bargain collectively: the National Labor Relations Act was passed during her tenure.
• Elaine, on the other hand, is hostile to unions and actively campaigned against bipartisan legislation that restores the rights of workers to freely and fairly form unions.

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We have some big news following yesterday’s attempted delivery of 25,000 letters to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.  After holding our photo-op on the front steps of the Department of Labor, we gave the box full of signatures to Elaine’s employees to bring into the Department of Labor.

But they were met by the head of DOL security, who said he monitored our website and would not allow the letters to be delivered to Elaine Chao.  From the employees’ union press release:

Attorney Alex Bastani, the President of Local 12, tried to bring the petition signed by 25,000 Americans into the Department of Labor main building. Mr. Bastani was about to place the petition through the x-ray machine at the Department entrance when he was stopped by the Head of Department of Labor Security,  Mr. J. Thomas Holman II.  The petition, a stack of paper, was approximately the size of a phone book. Mr. Holman stated he had been monitoring the Shame on Elaine website,  and that he would not allow the letters to be delivered to Secretary Chao.

The Executive Vice President of the Union, attorney Eleanor Lauderdale, asked under what legal authority the Department was not allowing the documents to be brought into the building, given that thousands of DOL employees, contractors, and visitors bring in documents through the front door everyday. Mr. Holman stated that the Union was engaging in subterfuge and undermining the Department’s security process.  He and his deputy, Robert Rouse, stated that the letters posed a security threat to the Department.

This is extraordinary.  We knew Elaine Chao was indifferent to the real concerns of America’s workers, but now her head of security won’t even let 25,000 Americans express their concerns.

Our next step is to mail these letters to Elaine, but we’ll be regrouping shortly on how we can intensify our pressure on Elaine Chao.  We’ll put the full press release from Elaine’s employees in the extended entry of this post.

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We dropped off 25,000 signatures to our letter to Elaine Chao at the Department of Labor today. Joined by Elaine’s employees upset with her leadership, we stood on the front steps of DOL with a special birthday present for her. Check out our photos in the slideshow below. Also, there’s still time to make your donation double in our fundraising campaign - contribute today to help our work!