WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that it is accepting applications for the 2023 HIRE Vets Medallion Award. The award is presented annually to employers that meet standards for excellence in the recruitment, hiring and retention of America’s military veterans.

Initiated by the Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing American Military Veterans Act, the award recognizes small businesses, non-profit organizations and large companies for leadership in promoting veterans’ employment. The open application period begins the 2023 HIRE Vets Medallion Award cycle. Employers meeting criteria for the award will join more than 1,600 employers recognized by the department for their support of America’s veterans.

“The HIRE Vets Medallion Award is the only federal-level veterans’ employment award that recognizes a proven commitment to veteran hiring,” said Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “The HIRE Vets Medallion Award is a meaningful and important recognition. Veterans and their families benefit from careers with real growth potential and employers gain dedicated, qualified employees who can make a significant contribution to the bottom line.”

To complete the application process, employers must verify that their organization meets award requirements, pay the application fee and comply with the rules promulgated by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Act. Employers must apply by April 30, 2023.

Apply for the 2023 HIRE Vets Medallion Award.

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement today requested that the government of Mexico conduct another review at the VU Manufacturing parts facility in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, in response to an allegation the facility continues to deny workers’ rights.

The request follows the ILC’s receipt of a new petition filed under the USMCA that claims the auto parts manufacturer continues to deny workers the rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining. The Interagency Labor Committee is co-chaired by the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Trade Representative.

“This is the second time in less than a year we’ve received allegations of workers’ rights violations by VU Manufacturing. The Biden administration is unrelenting in its efforts to champion workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively, here and abroad,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “The Rapid Response Mechanism addresses real workplace issues and helps to get the parties to do what they should, which is to resolve issues in good faith at the bargaining table.”

 “A core tenet of the Biden administration’s worker-centered trade policy is ensuring workers’ right to organize and collectively bargain without fear of retribution or intimidation. Despite this facility taking positive actions in 2022, some of the failures we identified previously appear to be recurring,” said U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai. “The Rapid Response Labor Mechanism allows us to return to a facility to address new concerns, and we look forward to working with the government of Mexico to promptly address this issue.”

On Dec. 29, 2022, the department received a second USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism petition filed by the Liga Sindical Obrera Mexicana, a Mexican union, and the Comité Fronterizo de Obreras, a Mexican labor rights organization. The two groups allege that VU Manufacturing has continued to illegally discriminate by favoring the minority company union. They also report the facility has denied access rights to LSOM organizers in violation of Mexican law, and allowed members of the company union to intimidate and threaten LSOM members.  

The committee found sufficient and credible evidence of a new denial of rights at VU Manufacturing, which enabled the good faith invocation of the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism. Mexico’s government has 10 days to agree to conduct a review and 45 days to investigate the claims and to present its findings. 

The USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism is the first of its kind and allows the U.S. to take enforcement action based on the labor situation at an individual factory in Mexico if such facility fails to comply with domestic freedom of association and collective bargaining laws.

Learn more about the department’s international work.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh today issued a statement regarding the release of the Telecommunications Workforce Interagency Group’s report to Congress:

“The telecommunications industry provides access to critical communications tools for people across the country and significant opportunities to create good jobs for U.S. workers, including people in underserved communities. Today’s report reflects the substantial work done by the Telecommunications Workforce Interagency Groups to identify strategies for addressing the industry’s needs.

Allow me to join Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in expressing our appreciation for the interagency group’s efforts, and extend special thanks to the group’s Chair Amy Brett, acting chief of staff of the Federal Communication Commission’s Wireless Bureau; and Vice Chair Scott Ketcham, director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Directorate of Construction, for their contributions and leadership.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law directed the Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission to work with the Secretary of Labor to establish an interagency working group to issue a report to Congress on recommendations for addressing the needs of the telecommunications industry, including the safety of its workforce.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh will travel to Europe next week to meet with government and business leaders at the 2023 World Economic Forum in Davos, visit one of Europe’s foremost job training centers in Zurich, and learn more about apprenticeship programs in Austria.

Secretary Walsh will use the trip to strengthen bilateral partnerships in both countries, and promote labor rights and labor-management partnerships, job quality and essential protections across global supply chains.

While in Davos, the Secretary will participate in a panel discussion, “Attracting Talent” on Jan. 17 that will discuss the pandemic’s impact on labor markets. Secretary Walsh will highlight the need for organizations to be innovative in their approach to attracting and retaining talented workers, including the importance of investing in job quality.

On Jan. 18, a second panel, “The Future of Jobs” will offer the Secretary and other participants an opportunity to discuss how anticipated industry changes – including the transition to clean energy – may affect labor markets, the importance of collective bargaining and the ways employers can respond effectively. 

“To be successful for the long-term, economic systems must revolve around working people,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “The Biden-Harris administration is creating good-paying jobs with a sharp focus on equity for all workers and ensuring their right to join a union. This approach aligns with its vision for a national economy built from the bottom up and the middle out.”

“Regardless of national boundaries, ensuring that every worker has an equal opportunity to succeed is the only way to build a strong, skilled workforce that meets the needs of every industry. This trip offers an excellent opportunity to better understand how other countries and companies forge successful labor-management partnerships to develop and train tomorrow’s workforce,” the Secretary added.  

Livestreams of “Attracting Talent” and “The Future of Jobs” are available.

Leaving the World Economic Forum, Secretary Walsh will then travel to Zurich to tour Lernzentrum Industrielle Berufslehren Schweiz – the country’s foremost vocational training center for machinery, electronics and metal industry – and meet with young apprentices in the commercial and technical fields. He will also learn more about the center’s apprentice training methods.  

Later in the week, Secretary Walsh will head to Austria and meet with government and business leaders to discuss the value and benefits of apprenticeship programs and their best practices. He will also showcase the U.S. and Austria’s bilateral partnership. During both visits, Secretary Walsh will highlight the department’s recent memorandum of understanding on vocational and professional education, training, and apprenticeships with Switzerland and Austria. He will discuss how the U.S. can advance apprenticeship partnerships in both countries.

Learn more about the department’s work to improve job quality. 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the December 2022 Employment Situation Report:

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 223,000 jobs in the month of December, and the unemployment rate fell to a historically low 3.5 percent while more people entered the workforce.

“Since December 2021, the economy has added 4.5 million jobs, for a total of more than 10.7 million jobs since the President took office and the most jobs added in any two-year period on record. With significant gains in health care, leisure and hospitality, and construction jobs, we rounded out 2022 with more of the steady, stable growth that helped our workforce recover from the COVID pandemic and has empowered workers to take on new opportunities.

“We begin 2023 positioned to sustain this worker-centered progress, as the administration’s infrastructure investments and the resurgence of American manufacturing continue to create good jobs across the country. With the Inflation Reduction Act going into effect, health insurance and prescription drug costs are lower for millions of families, small business owners, and retirees; and clean energy incentives will further lower household costs and create good jobs for years to come.

“At the Department of Labor, through our Good Jobs Initiative and more, we are focused on ensuring that all working people have the skills, supports, protections and opportunities they need to thrive in this economy.”

LOS ANGELES – Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and Deputy Secretary of Labor Julie Su today hosted a roundtable discussion at the Port of Los Angeles about the benefits of having a collective bargaining relationship between truck drivers and employers at the port.  

The discussion included truck drivers Jorge Mayorga and Todd Ellis; representatives of Universal Trucking, Sea-Logix, TTSI/Heavy Load Transfer and Pacific 9 Trucking; members and officers of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Local 848; and Port of Los Angeles officials.

Participants highlighted the importance of improved pay, benefits, training and job stability that come with employee status and a collective bargaining relationship. They noted some drivers are owner-operators covered by the collective bargaining agreement. The companies noted the competitive challenges of following an employee model in an industry with rampant misclassification of drivers as independent contractors, and the need for strong enforcement to ensure a level playing field. 

In addition, participants focused on the importance of training investments, including apprenticeship programs, and the Port of Los Angeles described its efforts to develop a state-of-the-art training facility which includes some of the promising models discussed at the event.

“The Labor Department appreciates the efforts these companies, workers and union have made to improve job quality and security for Port of Los Angeles truck drivers,” said Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “Through partnership and shared values, we can create better jobs and more stability in our supply chain.”

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor and the IRS today renewed a memorandum of understanding and added a streamlined process for joint referrals and closer coordination to stop businesses from misclassifying workers and denying them their full wages, benefits and protections under the law.

The updated MOU will also help the department’s Wage and Hour Division share information and work in concert with the IRS to strengthen enforcement of federal and state laws that protect workers’ rights. 

“We are determined to identify and resolve labor violations by employers who benefit by misclassifying employees as independent contractors and deprive them of the protections of the labor standards laws we enforce,” said Principal Deputy Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman. “Renewing our memorandum of understanding with the IRS strengthens our existing partnership by improving referral processes and information sharing to help us better serve the nation’s workers.” 

In 2011, the Wage and Hour division and the IRS first entered into a memorandum of understanding to enable both agencies to use their resources to promote employer compliance with obligations to pay employees and related employment taxes. Since then, the division and IRS have shared information when an investigation discovered that an employer had misclassified employees. By sharing information, the agencies reduce the illegal use of misclassification and the tax gap while improving compliance with federal labor laws. 

Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including misclassification of independent contractors and a search tool for workers to use if they think you may be owed back wages collected by the division. Workers can call the Wage and Hour Division confidentially with questions – regardless of where they are from – and the department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh today announced that Argentina, Canada, Germany, South Africa and Spain have joined the Multilateral Partnership for Organizing, Worker Empowerment and Rights initiative and that the effort has established a new action plan and that the U.S. has exceeded its 2021 pledge of support. The M-POWER initiative remains the largest U.S. government commitment to advance worker empowerment and support trade union rights in the global economy.

The news came today at the Department of Labor’s headquarters in Washington where Secretary Walsh was joined by Canadian Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan, Argentinian Minister of Labor Raquel Kismer de Olmos, President of the American Federation of Teachers and AFL-CIO Executive Council member Randi Weingarten, Deputy President of the International Trade Union Confederation Cathy Feingold, and Executive Director of the Solidarity Center Shawna Bader-Blau.

The addition of Argentina, Canada, Germany, South Africa and Spain as M-POWER partners will strengthen the initiative. Together, the Departments of Labor and State and the U.S. Agency for International Development have obligated approximately $130 million for technical assistance to workers and organizations worldwide. M-POWER philanthropic partners have also committed an additional $100 million deployed towards M-POWER goals and outcomes in 2022.

As part of M-POWER’s new action plan, partners have pledged to work together to respond to urgent threats against labor activists and organizations, beginning with a call to action around the recent arrest and detention of Cambodian union leader Chhim Sithar. The action plan also calls on partner organizations to deploy their respective resources to support worker-driven campaigns to eliminate gender-based violence and promote occupational safety and health in the world of work.

“Coordinating global efforts to promote worker organizing and to lift up workers’ voices is a key component of M-POWER,” said Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “Strong, independent labor movements are central to inclusive, vibrant democracies, which is why workers’ collective voice is central to setting the priorities for M-POWER.”

The M-POWER initiative brings together governments, worker organizations, labor stakeholders and civil society organizations to:

• Strengthen free and independent trade unions.
• Support labor law reform and enforcement.
• Promote worker organizing and innovative use of collective bargaining.
• Extend labor law coverage to protect workers employed in low-wage jobs and sectors often excluded from labor law protection, particularly in the informal economy.

Learn more about the department’s international work.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the November 2022 Employment Situation Report:

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 263,000 jobs in the month of November, and the unemployment rate remained close to a historic low mark at 3.7 percent. This report brings good news for working families, as the economy continues its transition into steady, stable growth that brings jobs and opportunity to more workers. Since the start of this administration, our economy has added 10.5 million jobs and there are now over one million more jobs in America than before the pandemic began.

“Some of November’s strongest growth came in the sectors that were hardest hit by the pandemic. Leisure and Hospitality added 88,000 jobs, including 62,000 new jobs at restaurants, bars and similar establishments. The healthcare industry added 45,000 jobs, and the social assistance sector that includes childcare and other services critical to working families is now for the first time fully recovered from its pandemic job losses.

“We are also seeing continued job growth in the manufacturing and construction sectors that have been bolstered by investments from the CHIPS and Science Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. We’ve added more than 750,000 manufacturing jobs since the Administration began and supply chains are strong as the holiday season begins.”

INDIANOLA, MS – In an ongoing series of investigations into allegations of wage theft and illegal displacement of U.S. workers by Mississippi Delta agricultural employers in the H-2A temporary guest worker program, the U.S. Department of Labor identified several violations by 11 employers.

In 11 reviews completed by the department’s Wage and Hour Division, investigators found that employers failed to pay the required rate of pay for U.S. workers in corresponding employment; did not disclose all conditions of employment and did not provide accurate anticipated hours of work and bonus opportunities; made illegal pay deductions and failed to reimburse travel-related expenses as required; and did not comply with federal recordkeeping requirements, all violations of the H-2A program requirements.

The division recovered $134,532 in wages for 45 workers and assessed $122,610 in civil money penalties. These investigations are part of a larger effort and are a department priority.

“The allegations made by Mississippi Delta farmworkers are alarming,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Audrey Hall in Jackson, Mississippi. “The outcome of these investigations confirms that employers denied many farmworkers their lawful wages and, in some cases, violated the rights of U.S. workers by giving temporary guest workers preferential treatment.”

The employers included in these 11 investigations are Clark & Co. in Shelby, Egremont Baconia Farms in Cary, White Farms AJV in Marks, Van Buren Farms II in Belzoni, Bulldog Farms LLC in Tutwiler, Custom Ag Services LLC in Isola, Bruton Farms Partnership in Anguilla, Durst Farms and Carter Plantation LTD, both in Rolling Fork, Harris Russel Farm in Moorhead, and Murrell Farms in Avon.

The division found prior violations in the Delta’s agricultural industry. In 2021, the division found H-2A violations at six fish farms in the Mississippi Delta  and recovered more than $102,000 for more than 120 workers. Since 2020, H-2A investigations recovered more than $700,000 in wages for more than 500 Mississippi workers and led to assessments of $200,000 in penalties for employers.

In June 2022, U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh visited the region and heard from a group of Black Delta farmworkers who alleged their employers violated federal law by doing the following:

• Paid them less than  South African workers employed under the H-2A program.
• Tasked U.S. workers with training the H-2A workers who, in some cases, later replaced them.
• Denied Black farmworkers access to employer-provided indoor toilets – leaving them to relieve themselves outdoors – while allowing South African H-2A workers to use the indoor toilets.

“The Wage and Hour Division is determined to protect the rights of workers of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized and faced with persistent poverty and inequality,” said Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “For the first time in 25 years, we have a permanent presence in the Delta with investigators stationed in Greenwood and Clarksdale focused on helping protect workers’ rights and holding employers who violate federal law accountable.”

Across the U.S., violations of H-2A regulations and recovery of back wages have increased significantly in the past five years. Southeast employers currently host the largest number of H-2A workers in the nation.

In addition to the Wage and Hour Division, the expanded agriculture enforcement in the Delta region is a collaborative effort with federal experts from the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Employment and Training Administration and Office of the Solicitor; as well as with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and regional stakeholders, such as the Mississippi Center for Justice and the NAACP.

For more information about workers’ rights enforced by the Wage and Hour Division, contact its toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). Workers can call the division confidentially with questions and the division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages. Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division.

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