Stating that the Linda Chavez nomination is an affront to labor, the AFL-CIO is gearing up to stop Chavez’s nomination as Labor Secretary. Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, Board Member of the Feminist Majority, and leading champion for Latina women, has announced that she will strongly oppose Chavez’s nomination. Huerta is currently recovering from an illness. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) will chair the Senate Labor Committee until January 20, and will preside over the January 16 and 17 confirmation hearing for Chavez. Kennedy said that Chavez has a “long-standing hostility to the basic rights of American workers.” Chavez opposes affirmative action, the minimum wage, pay equity; she has an equally bad record on lesbian and gay rights, opposing non-discrimination laws that cover sexual orientation.
Other confirmation hearings have been scheduled:
January 10: the Health, Education and Labor Committee will consider Rod Paige’s nomination for Education Secretary. January 11: Donald Rumsfeld’s nomination as Secretary of Defense will be considered in the Armed Services Committee. January 16: Foreign Relations Committee will vote on Colin Powell’s nomination as Secretary of State and Environment and Public Works Committee will consider Christine Todd Whitman’s nomination as EPA administrator. January 18: Energy and Natural Resources Committee will vote on Spencer Abraham’s nomination as Energy Secretary and on Gale Norton’s nomination as Secretary of the Interior.
