Obama to name Thomas Perez as new labor secretary

Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, testifies before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington March 29, 2011. / SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

President Obama will soon nominate Thomas Perez to be the next secretary of labor, according to a source familiar with the decision.

Perez, 51, is popular throughout the labor movement and earned prominence as Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley's labor secretary. He also has strong backing in the West Wing and those close to the White House expect Perez to elevate the visibility of the Labor Department on a range of issues, if he is confirmed by the Senate.

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Some Democrats look for the new labor secretary to intensify the White House push for an increase in the minimum wage. President Obama called for an increase in the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $9.00 per hour by 2015, with automatic yearly inflation adjustments after that. The president first proposed the wage increase in his State of the Union address. The issue has received scant White House attention since then.

In his 2008 campaign, Mr. Obama promised to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011. His less-aggressive approach now has drawn some criticism on the left. Perez may breathe some life into the effort.

• Does raising the minimum wage really help workers?
• Hilda Solis stepping down as labor secretary

Perez is currently serving in the civil rights division of the Justice Department. He would replace Hilda Solis and satisfy requests from Latino groups for representation in Mr. Obama's second-term cabinet.

White House officials insisted the president had not formally decided on Perez, saying only he was the top contender. But a source with knowledge of the situation said Perez is the pick and will soon be formally named - and with strong backing from blue collar and service union leadership.

[ammo17]

is this guy as dysfuntional as eric holder,if so we are in a lot of trouble.

[crazy_chicken]

Perez is a good choice - when in Maryland if one of Gov. O'Malley's contributors complained about paying Unemployment taxes, he to the agency not to audit them. He would then call employee's "Cowboys" because they wanted to enforce the laws on the books. He will fit right in with the big boys. Washington, he's all your's.

[taxed01]

You have to look at the perceived value of the job. If somebody is taking items out of a box and putting them on a shelf - is that really worth more than $7.25 per hour? How much training, education and effort is required to sweep a floor? What is the perceived value of sweeping a floor? These are entry level jobs and the people who have them should be looking to advance themselves, not wait for somebody to vote them a raise.

[ManOfSteel-Velvet]

Wrong!

1) Who dictates the perceived value of a job? Mitt Romney did not work in 2010 yet he made $21.7 million through investment (aka making money from labor of others). Was the the perceived value of his job for literally doing nothing and playing golf worth $21.7 millions?

2) Minimum wage is one of the best known, proven mechanisms many government around the world used to lift working poor from poverty. Conservatives' argument that higher minimum wage increases unemployment is simplistic. Their simple mind fails to consider other factors that affect demand for labor.

[ManOfSteel-Velvet]

SteveL47 replies: We sent taxpayer money to corporations? I wasn't made aware of this?
--------------------

Ever heard of taxpayer subsidies to big oil companies. If you and conservatives think subsidies are only meant tax breaks, you guys are wrong!

Tax payers are being cheated out of our fair share, when federal government provides free money to oil companies for research & development, loan at lower interest rate than commercial rate, insurance cost at much lower price than what those companies have to buy on open market, reduced royalties on public land, sell natural resources such as timber to energy producers below market rate, covers the major cost of operating government owned properties such as hydroelectric dams while those energy producers pocket profits, or ask tax payers to pay much higher fuel charge by discouraging and restricting foreign competition through high tariff.

Stupid congressional republicans repeatedly demand and ask taxpayers to do this in billions and billions of dollars for years while oil and gas companies have raked in record profits. Get it?

[jschm2681]

another labor leader who will try to make the US even more noncompetitive than it already is.

[sjc_1]

The decisions to off shore jobs were made in board rooms. Congress allows companies to deduct expenses for off shoring jobs.

[hypnotoad72]

So you want to work for a nickel per hour?

Go right ahead. You try that for a while and get back to us on how prosperous you become as a result...

Thank those driving down wages while you're at it.

SJC_1's comment is right on the money as well (sorry for the pun.)

[hypnotoad72]

Is upping the minimum wage really a solution?

How about restoring living wages instead?

If "the market" is saying they need more STEM jobs, how come STEM wages have stagnated or dropped, while unemployment rates in that field continue to be high, with little education - apart from students going back to college for these sorts of fields, racking up huge debt because the companies no longer assist their "valued" employees?

Plenty of facets exist... and I don't deny there are some people who are truly lazy either, but there is more than one side to the issue, hence my preferring to look at the aspects rarely brought up.