“Today is my first day as the secretary of labor, and I couldn’t be more eager to get down to work,” newly appointed Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said last week.

Perez is the first and only Latino appointed to President Obama’s second-term cabinet.

Formerly Assistant U.S. Attorney General, his nomination yielded much optimism given his prior work around civil rights issues.

Perez has headed the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department since 2009; previously, he had been Maryland Secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, a member of the Montgomery County Council, director of the civil rights office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Bill Clinton and a special counsel to Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Shortly after his appointment, advocates for workers’ rights took to the streets of Washington, D.C., calling on the new official to make new changes.

Strong record on civil rights

“For 100 years, the Labor Department has been central to safeguarding and expanding the American dream for working families. As the first secretary of the department’s second century, I will focus every day on creating more opportunity for more people. That means more opportunity for workers to acquire the skills they need to succeed; more opportunity to earn a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work; more opportunity for workers and employers to compete on a level playing field; more opportunity for our veterans to thrive in the civilian economy; more opportunity for people with disabilities to contribute productively to the workforce; more opportunity to retire with dignity and peace of mind; and more opportunity for people to work in a safe environment and with the full protection of our anti-discrimination laws,” Perez said.

Excitement is building that Perez will be a progressive voice in a cabinet expected to include several other appointees with less-than-stellar track records when it comes to supporting workers and labor organizing. Among others this includes Hyatt Hotels heiress Penny Pritzker, the likely commerce secretary appointee.

Perez also served as a city council member in Montgomery County, Maryland, and as the head of Maryland’s state labor department. There, he pushed for contractual labor law protections and a minimum wage for domestic workers, some of whom are American citizens while others are recent immigrants. These laborers earn low wages and aren’t protected by Labor laws. As the United Workers Congress relays, “Domestic workers are excluded from the right to bargain collectively under the NLRA. Like farmworkers, they were originally excluded from minimum wage and overtime laws in an effort to win Southern votes in favor of New Deal legislation. Home health care workers are still excluded from both the minimum wage and overtime laws, and all live-in domestic workers are excluded from overtime pay under federal law.”

After a lengthy three years of debate, the protections Perez sought became law, albeit after after Perez had left the council in 2008. The legislation gave Maryland workers contractual labor rights they still lack in most states.

Perez’s accomplishments also include the fact during his tenure in the Civil Rights Division, the Justice Department opened a record number of civil rights investigations into local police departments accused of brutality and discrimination, as well as challenging restrictive voter ID laws and fighting for fair-housing settlements.

In addition, during his time with the Clinton administration Perez was part of the Worker Exploitation Task Force, which sought to protect vulnerable workers. While working in the Attorney General Janet Reno’s Justice Deparment, the task force sought to eliminate “modern-day slavery” associated with human trafficking, discrimination in labor markets and other exploitative practices.

That task force secured multiple convictions involving the trafficking and exploitation of women and children workers, and helped lead calls around the country for stronger anti-trafficking laws at both federal and state levels.

Perez also has had experience in dealing with immigration issues, having investigated claims that employers were using a new immigration law in Alabama to avoid paying immigrant workers. “We continue to be concerned that certain employers may be using HB56 as an excuse not to pay workers,” he said, adding that he would “throw the book” at employers who weren’t paying workers.

“We’re here. We will prosecute you. That is impermissible, period,” he said to these employers.

Workers rights rally planned

Domestic workers planned to march on the Department of Labor headquarters Tuesday. They’re urging Perez and the White House to extend minimum-wage requirements and other workplace protections to in-home caregivers.

Two years ago President Obama said he’d put an end to federal regulations that exclude in-home care providers from certain workplace protections.

Vice President Biden made similar remarks last month.

Late in 2011, Obama said these workers “represent nearly 1.8 million home care workers across the country. Hard-working professionals, mostly women, who work around the clock so that folks who need help, including many of our family members, can live independently in their own home.” Obama also noted that as the baby boomer generation begins to age, the need for workers in this area is expected to grow.

Home care workers have been denied the federal minimum wage and overtime protections that apply to almost all other American workers.

The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) organized Tuesday’s demonstration as part of its annual convention in Washington. The Labor Department is considering proposals that could meet the group’s demands, but the agency has not finalized the guidelines.

“Though domestic workers are professionals who do real work everyday, domestic workers are excluded from many of the basic protections guaranteed by the Fair Labor Standards Act to most other workers in the United States — things like minimum wage, overtime, sick and vacation pay. Many do not earn a living wage and work without access to health care, paid sick days or paid time off. Because of domestic workers’ unique workplaces — inside other people’s homes — the struggles domestic workers face are largely out of the public spotlight,” the NDWA’s website relays.

Given the amount on injustice and unfair treatment levied against the working class in America, it is perhaps easy to be cynical that any real change will come of the protest. But its worth noting that conservative business groups seem to be expressing caution over Perez’s nomination.

Scott Witlin, partner of the Labor and Employment Practice at Barnes & Thornburg in Los Angeles, expresssed concern that with Perez’s appointment could create an economic climate in which employers have a difficult time hiring workers, Workforce.com reports.

“The economy is improving, but not at a pace that we all want,” said Witlin. “You’ve got to look at what you can do to help create jobs. Instead they’re looking at employers as being entities that will take advantage of workers that need to be reined in, rather than entities that create jobs and sign paychecks. That’s the balance that needs to be struck. Nobody’s saying we need no regulations. You’ve got to have sensible regulations that have real tangible benefits.”

The fact that big business seems a little scared is the best sign of all for workers — especially those who remain disenfranchised by a system tilted towards serving the needs of elite.

The profit imperative of big business shows little regard to the needs of laborers. Government regulations are needed to protect the human rights of workers.

Hopefully workers have found a friend in Perez.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Mint Press News editorial policy.