CHICAGO | U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Thursday that her office is going to more aggressively pursue companies that try to cheat their workers out of wages.
The Labor Department is beginning a new marketing campaign to let workers know they can contact the federal government if they have complaints about how they are treated on the job.
The "We Can Help" campaign is being conducted in several different languages, as Solis said her office is prepared to investigate claims by all workers, regardless of citizenship or immigration status.
The effort will address such topics as rights in the work place and how to file a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division to recover wages owed.
"The current federal laws apply to all workers. There are some employers who do not respect that," Solis said during a news conference at the University of Illinois Chicago campus. She chose to make her announcement in Chicago near the old Hull House facility where Jane Addams did her 19th century work as a social activist.
"We can help, and we will help," she said, "If you work in this country, you are protected by our laws. And you can count on the U.S. Department of Labor to see to it that those protections work for you."
Solis said the marketing campaign of television and radio spots will feature recognizable Latinos such as actor Jimmy Smits and labor activist Dolores Huerta.
In the past year, the department has added 250 new investigators to supplement the 949 already working for the Labor Department Wage and Hour Division.
She said increased enforcement will produce more funds that will cover the cost of the marketing campaign although she did not say how much the campaign would cost.
"There are many employers who play by the rules, but many others that don't," said Solis, adding that her investigators will target certain communities that have histories of problems concerning labor.
The federal government also plans to work with churches, advocacy groups and consulates of various foreign governments to get the word out about labor law enforcement.
"We want to inform workers of their rights regardless of their immigration status," she said.
Pleased with the new direction was Ana Guajardo, head of the Centro de Trabajadores Unidos (Center for Workers United), a legal aid group affiliated with Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Chicago.
Her group has filed abuse complaints in the past with the Illinois Department of Labor on behalf of immigrant workers at small businesses in the south Chicago and east side neighborhoods. But after hearing Solis, she said she may start taking her complaints to the federal government.
"Some of the things they are saying are identical to what we are saying," Guajardo said. "It is good to hear the Department of Labor say they will look out for all workers."
Prior to the news conference, she arrived with nine others wearing T-shirts with logos reading "en la lucha por justicia" (in the fight for justice).
In attendance were three Illinois Democratic congressmen, Bobby Rush, Danny Davis and Jan Schakowski, and about 100 others, including union members from the AFL-CIO and Service Employee International Union.
For more information
Visit http://www.dol.gov/wecanhelp or call (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243).
