Women Building California Conference 2010

Organized Labor

Patricia Shiu, Director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, US Department of Labor
We need to take advantage of this historic moment to really work together collaboratively and put differences aside. We have an administration that values work, and values workers, and values unions, and values working families in all their diversity. I think that if you know you are not going to be welcomed in an industry or workplace, you tend not to go there. We need to change that; we need to change the culture. We need to make sure that this work is valued. The work these women do is critical for the country. They build roads; they build highways; they build schools; they build bridges. The work you do is what you do during most of your waking hours. And if you don't believe in what you do and it doesn't give you a lot of satisfaction, then that is pretty sad. I want to make sure that everybody under my jurisdiction really wants to get up and go to work and has a job that pays a decent wage, that gets them benefits and gives them a sense of satisfaction and gives a sense of being a part of something bigger. That is what I propose to do.