Putting Workers First

On Monday, December 8, the Center for American Progress Action Fund will host two panels on how the Obama administration can use its existing authority to best promote the interests of workers. Governor Jon Corzine will keynote the event, discussing the steps New Jersey is taking to protect workers’ rights and how the Obama administration can draw on state innovations.

Two new reports from the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s American Worker Project describe how the Obama administration can immediately improve on the Bush administration’s poor track record. As the reports detail, workers, taxpayers and law-abiding businesses will be helped by strategically enforcing existing worker protection laws at the Department of Labor and reforming federal contracting policies to promote good jobs. The reports focus on administrative reforms that can be implemented right away, but also note where Congress must also act.

The first panel, “Enforcing Change: Strategies for the Obama Administration to Enforce Workers’ Rights at the Department of Labor,” will be moderated by CAPAF’s David Madland, and will feature Jordan Barab, Senior Labor Policy Advisor for the House Committee on Education and Labor; Kim Bobo, Founder and Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice; Thomas E. Perez, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation; and Catherine K. Ruckelshaus, Litigation Director at the National Employment Law Project.

The second panel, “Making Federal Contracting Work for the United States,” will be moderated by CAPAF’s Scott Lilly, and will include Scott Amey, General Counsel for the Project on Government Oversight; Margaret Daum, Counsel for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee; Richard C. Loeb of the University of Baltimore School of Law; and David Madland, Director of CAPAF’s American Worker Project.

Find out more about the event and RSVP.