Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao

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As Prepared

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
National Association of Hispanic Federal Employees
Wyndham Washington Hotel
Washington, D.C.
November 20, 2002

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Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and Training Frederico Juarbe, Jr.

Thank you Manuel [Manuel Oliverez, President of the NAHFE] for the kind introduction. I especially want to thank the board and all the members of the National Association of Hispanic Federal Employees for the invitation to join you this afternoon.

And let me also recognize Assistant Secretary Jacob Lozada, Deputy Director Gilbert Sandate, Assistant Secretary Lou Gallegos, Director Theresa Alvillar-Speake… and the other top federal executives with us this afternoon.

As leaders in your agencies, you represent a standard of excellence that many aspire to achieve.

As you may know, the U.S. Department of Labor hosted the National Association Summit in January of 2002. We were pleased to have Clay Johnson, Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, with us—I know he spoke to you earlier today. We made a pledge during the January summit that we would work harder, reach further, and challenge old ways of thinking to bring even more Hispanic Americans into the Department.

I am here today to say that we are making good on that promise.

With over 1,100 men and women of Hispanic-descent working at the Department, we remain one of the top five executive departments employing Hispanic Americans. They are represented at the highest levels of management—including nine members of the Senior Executive Service and twenty-five GS-15s.

Our Assistant Secretary for Veterans Employment and Training—Fred Juarbe—is of Hispanic descent. And today, I am very pleased to announce that our new Director of Human Resources—Daliza Salas—is also Hispanic American.

Each day, more Latinas are taking on new leadership responsibilities at the Department. As well they should, since fifty-two percent of all Hispanic employees at the Department are now women—making them a clear majority!

I am especially pleased that the National Association has nominated two of our outstanding women career executives—Marcia Eugenio and Nancy Ruiz de Gamboa—for recognition at the Executive Network Luncheon in January of 2003.

To entice even more talented Hispanic women and men to join us, we continue to work with a number of key Hispanic organizations and groups.

Through our on-going relationship with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, we’ve hosted twenty-two interns this year alone. By forging new links with the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, we’re filling DOL vacancy announcements with top-notch Hispanic American MBAs.

In fact, we’re working very closely this year with the National Society of Hispanic MBAs to recruit graduates students and others for our newly minted MBA Rotational Program. This is an intensive two-year program and gives candidates the opportunity of a life-time. Candidates rotate through a number of different assignments and at the end of the program they can be offered permanent federal employment.

We’re now accepting applications for the next class—and we want to enlist you to help us secure the best and the brightest applicants. So fax those resumes to 202-693-7729 or email them to us at MBA-Intern@dol.gov.

Nearly seventeen percent of the Department’s Hispanic employees are eligible for early retirement and we are looking for candidates.

Again, we are making good on our promise to recruit new Hispanic talent and we are off to a very good start.

The Hispanic community is such a vital part of our nation’s economic strength.

In less than a century, more than one-third of America’s population will be of Hispanic origin. The Labor Department has a tremendous stake in ensuring that the Hispanic community is vibrant, prosperous, and safe.

That’s why I’ve made Hispanic worker safety and health one of my top priorities as Secretary of Labor.

Far too many Hispanic construction workers are still being injured on the job. That’s why OSHA has developed a special outreach program specifically targeted to Hispanic workers in the various trades. We’re doing everything from offering safety classes in Spanish, to running a Spanish language, toll free help line where callers can report complaints, to managing a Spanish-language web page providing safety services and advise.

We believe that working with employers and employees through compliance assistance is the best way to prevent accidents. But we will not hesitate to take aggressive actions against those who violate safety rules and standards.

I know that in the aftermath of the Hoffman Plastics case, there is a great deal of confusion about the enforcement of, and commitment to, core worker protections for undocumented and immigrant workers.

Regardless of a workers immigration status, the Labor Department remains committed to the enforcement of all protections offered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Mine and Safety and Health Act, and the Department’s other core labor statutes. Safety has no nationality—and every worker in this country deserves a safe workplace.

The Department’s Wage and Hour Division’s has deployed more than 340 Spanish-speaking investigators throughout the country to educate employers, employees and community groups on core labor standards. They’ve been particularly active in working with the Catholic Church and a number of Latin American Consulates in providing Spanish-speaking immigrants with information on wage and hour laws. Everyone deserves a decent day’s pay for a day’s work, and we are committed to ensuring that the exploitation of immigrant communities—whoever they may be—is vigorously punished.

Protecting workers on the job is only one part of helping immigrant communities realize the American dream. As an immigrant myself, I know that every new community has a pool of entrepreneurial talent, eager to take advantage of the many opportunities this great country offers.

That’s why I’m particularly proud of our new programs to help immigrants learn what it takes to become a small business owner in this country. This summer SBA Administrator Hector Barreto and I traveled to the Nueva Esperanza Community Development Corporation in Philadelphia to launch Project G.A.T.E. This is a joint effort by the Department of Labor and the Small Business Administration to provide $9 million through the One-Stop Career Service Centers to create, expand and support small business opportunities in key communities. This is just one of the thirty programs that our Employment and Training Administration has available to ensure that immigrants become full partners in the 21^st century workforce.

It’s part of President George W. Bush’s commitment that no worker is left behind. We’re targeting high school kids with programs to increase their graduation rates. We have programs to increase the English proficiency for those workers and entrepreneurs with limited English language skills. And we want to help low-wage workers climb the ladder of success by offering them the opportunity to learn new skill sets that will put them on track for “new economy” jobs.

As many of you know President George W. Bush has a special bond with the Hispanic community. He grew up in Texas and speaks Spanish. His first trip abroad was to Mexico—signaling the priority he places on good relations with Latin America. It should come as no surprise that he has appointed more Americans of Hispanic heritage to top positions in the federal government than any other President in history. As the President is fond of saying: he searched for the most talented and qualified people to serve and that is just how things turned out. He knew where to look!

Our country needs your talents and experience. Now, more than ever, we need to come together as Americans to help our country through the challenging times ahead. We are truly fortunate to have so many outstanding Hispanic American government leaders. You represent the best we have!

Thank you again for the invitation to join you for lunch. Have a great meeting. God Bless you. God bless America.

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