One important, but often overlooked consequence of presidential elections is the effect an administration has on the performance of federal departments and agencies. A president's choice for Secretary of Labor may not be on the forefront of most voters' minds, but voters should be aware that an anti-worker President will not only impact what happens in the Oval Office, but also in the departments, agencies and offices on which workers rely to enforce the labor laws intended to protect them.

President Bush's choice for Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao, heads the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the department in charge of investigating and enforcing wage and hour violations, among other labor law infractions. Under Elaine Chao, who happens to be married to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the Department of Labor has largely neglected it's responsibility to protect workers' rights, and fostered an environment where employers do not feel obliged to follow the law. A real "dog bites man" revelation about the Bush DOL's anti-worker agenda came on Tuesday, July 15th, when the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified to the House Education and Labor Committee that the DOL's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has been conducting fewer, and less thorough investigations into allegations of employer wage theft under the Bush administration.

One glaring example of the Bush DOL's lack of enforcement involved a case where a pool maintenance worker alleged that his employer withheld his last paycheck. When an investigator took up the case, the employer admitted that the worker was in fact not paid, yet berated the investigator and refused to pay the employee. The investigator then dropped the case and informed the complainant of his right to file a private lawsuit.

In another case where the employer admitted that wages were owed to former employees, the case was dropped when the investigator's follow up phone calls to the employer were not returned. The GAO report also stated that the overall number of investigations has declined under President Bush, and that that prior to the Bush administration, DOL investigators would regularly consult with unions on how to improve strategies for enforcing wage and hour violations. However, under President Bush and Secretary Chao, meetings between investigators and union officials came to an abrupt halt.

Click here for full testimony from all the witnesses and for an archived webcast of the House Education and Labor Committee's hearing.

While the U.S. DOL's lack of commitment to protecting workers is distressing, at the state level, Massachusetts workers have witnessed the opposite transformation under a new executive. Governor Deval Patrick's administration has prioritized better enforcement and worker protections from the Massachusetts Department of Labor and the Attorney General's Fair Labor Division, after sixteen years of Republican Governors who, like President Bush and his heir apparent John McCain, did not consider labor law enforcement a priority. With a labor-friendly administration, the Massachusetts DOL was able to establish a new Joint Task Force on the Underground Economy and Employee Misclassification, and the Fair Labor Division has increased its ability to crack down on wage and hour violations and employee misclassification, two crimes that undermine the state's economy and put lawbreaking employers at an unscrupulous, unjustifiable, and unacceptable advantage.

In the upcoming presidential election, it is important to consider each candidate's position on workers' rights. Workers cannot afford to have their paychecks stolen by employers while the Department of Labor stands by and watches, or worse, chooses to look the other way. When looking at the record, the choice is clear: John McCain is virtually indistinguishable from President Bush on the issue of workers' rights, while Senator Barack Obama has an outstanding record on workers' rights and has the backing of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.

Click here to visit our website on Senator John McCain and here to visit our website on Senator Barack Obama to learn more.