Quotes by Tom Perez - Page 4

I'm proud to be Secretary of Labor. But I'm even prouder of two more important titles: dad and husband. I've been able to be all three. I want all working people, no matter what their jobs are, to be able to meet their obligations both at work and at home.
Tom Perez /
Labor
Secretary
Titles
Work Home Dad
Obligations
Prouder
Working People
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Donald Trump has shown no interest in working toward increasing the minimum wage, no interest in doing anything but immigrant baiting, no interest in doing anything but filling the swamp with a band of billionaires who are simply trying to help the wealthy.
Tom Perez /
Filling
Minimum
Minimum Wage
Wealthy
Billionaires
Donald
Donald Trump
Immigrant
Increasing
No Interest
Shown
Swamp
Wage
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Historians have often censored civil rights activists' commitment to economic issues and misrepresented the labor and civil rights movements as two separate, sometimes adversarial efforts. But civil rights and workers' rights are two sides of the same coin.
Tom Perez /
Censored
Civil Rights
Commitment
Labor
Sides
Workers
Activists
Adversarial
Coin
Efforts
Historians
Misrepresented
Movements
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We have a long and proud tradition as a nation of investing in our human capital so that we can build a thriving middle class. You look at the G.I. Bill after the war - it was an investment in our service members who had served this nation with distinction.
Tom Perez /
Distinction
Investing
Middle Class
Tradition
Capital
Served
Thriving
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Post-military service can be a period of anxiety and uncertainty. So many men and women return and ask themselves: what now? The Labor Department is here to help answer that question with an array of programs designed to clear pathways into the middle class.
Tom Perez /
Department
Labor
Men And Women
Middle Class
Return
Uncertainty
Array
Men Women Service
Designed
Women Men Service
Programs
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On Veterans Day, I can't help think of my uncles who volunteered for the service after fleeing a brutal regime in the Dominican Republic. They hadn't been in America long, but they were already so grateful for its opportunities that they were eager to serve.
Tom Perez /
Uncles
Brutal
Dominican Republic
Fleeing
Grateful
Republic
Eager
Veterans
Volunteered
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My father earned his citizenship by serving in the Army during World War II. He devoted his life to caring for our nations veterans at a VA hospital in Buffalo, New York. That desire to serve fellow Americans propelled my four siblings into medical careers, too.
Tom Perez /
Medical
Army
Buffalo
Careers
Caring
Devoted
Serving
Sibling
World War Ii
Life War World
Earned
Fellow
Fellow Americans
Hospital
Va
Veterans
World War
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Growing up in Buffalo, I saw shuttered factories that once housed thousands of steel manufacturing jobs. I remember the hollowing-out of the middle class in our community. I witnessed hope turn to hardship as a once-thriving city reckoned with a fast-changing world.
Tom Perez /
Jobs
Buffalo
Class
Community
Factories
Growing Up
Hardship
Manufacturing
Middle
Middle Class
Our Community
Steel
City
Reckoned
Saw
Manufacturing Jobs
Thousands
Witnessed
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Involvement in my kids' sports teams is something I have made time for over the years. I've also been able to coach all three of them in baseball and basketball, something that has strengthened our bonds and given me indescribable joy. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Tom Perez /
Sports
Baseball
Basketball
Indescribable
Involvement
Joy
Time Me Joy
Time Sports Me
Bonds
Coach
Strengthened
Teams
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King had come to Memphis to lend his moral authority to the struggle of striking municipal sanitation workers who were overwhelmingly African-American. They earned poverty wages, endured degrading working conditions, and faced brutal beatings when they tried to organize.
Tom Perez /
African American
Authority
Brutal
Conditions
Degrading
Memphis
Moral
Moral Authority
Organize
Poverty
Sanitation
Struggle
Wages
Workers
Earned
Endured
Lend
Municipal
Striking
Tried
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On July 2, 1964, President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act. Its enactment, following the longest continuous debate in the history of the U.S. Senate, enshrined into law the basic principle upon which our country was founded - that all people are created equal.
Tom Perez /
Civil Rights
Civil Rights Act
Debate
Equal
Following
Johnson
July
President
Rights
Senate
All People
Founded
Basic
Civil
Continuous
Created
Enactment
Enshrined
Longest
Signed
The History Of
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It's time to update our workplace policies to reflect the realities of the 21st-century labor force and to support modern working families. It's time to continue our nation's long commitment to supporting unemployed workers by extending emergency unemployment compensation.
Tom Perez /
Commitment
Compensation
Extending
Force
Labor
Support
Unemployed
Workers
Nation
Emergency
Families
Policies
Realities
Reflect
Update
Working Families
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If the opponents of an increase in the minimum wage were correct, then every time you fly to Seattle, you've got to bring a bagged lunch because there shouldn't be any restaurants because they should have all have gone out of business as a result of raising the minimum wage.
Tom Perez /
Business
Increase
Lunch
Minimum
Minimum Wage
Opponents
Restaurants
Seattle
Bring
Correct
Every Time
Fly
Raising
Wage
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You shouldn't have to win the boss lottery in order to have a little bit of flexibility at work. Raising and supporting a family isn't just a financial obligation. What's important isn't just being able to put food on the dinner table - we want you to be at the dinner table, too.
Tom Perez /
Dinner Table
Flexibility
Lottery
Obligation
Family Work Food
Raising
Supporting
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Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 will benefit about 28 million workers across the country. And it will help businesses, too - raising the wage will put more money in people's pockets, which they will pump back into the economy by spending it on goods and services in their communities.
Tom Perez /
Economy
Goods
Minimum
Minimum Wage
Pockets
Spending
Workers
Across
Money People Will
Benefit
Businesses
Communities
Money Country People
Help
Million
Pump
Raising
Services
Wage
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Our message has been muddled, especially in 2016. Voters in Ohio heard from Trump, 'I'm going to save your coal jobs.' And while that was a lie, what it told them is, 'I'm going to feel your pain.' What they heard from the Democratic side was, 'Vote for us because Donald Trump is crazy.'
Tom Perez /
Coal
Ohio
Voters
Muddled
Donald
Donald Trump
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We need bold leadership to bring America back to its first principles of diversity inclusion and opportunity for everyone in every ZIP Code, and music is that vehicle to summon our better angels. Music is that vehicle and always has been a vehicle to challenge us to build a better America.
Tom Perez /
Leadership
Code
Inclusion
Principles
Vehicle
Angels
Bold
Challenge
Summon
Zip
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It's a false choice to say we either have job safety or job growth. It's a false choice to suggest that the only way for a business to survive is to make sure workers have low wages and little or no benefits. There are ample models across this country where we've demonstrated the contrary.
Tom Perez /
Business
Benefits
Contrary
Country
Growth
Models
Safety
Wages
Workers
Job
Across
Sure
Ample
Choice
Either
False
Low
Suggest
Survive
To Survive
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Our economic future and our energy future are one in the same, and it's a future America can't shrink from. We must shape it, just as we've always done. We have to protect our planet from the threat of climate change and ensure that workers have the skills to compete for good middle-class jobs.
Tom Perez /
Jobs
Climate Change
Economic
Energy
Our Planet
Protect
Skills
Workers
Change Future Good
Compete
Economic Future
Ensure
Planet
Shape
Shrink
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The best way to promote and protect opportunity is through collaboration, consensus-building, and pragmatic problem-solving. Throughout nearly 30 years in public service, I have approached tough challenges by making room for as many people as possible around the table in search of common ground.
Tom Perez /
Opportunity
Best Way
Challenges
Collaboration
Common
Common Ground
Pragmatic
Problem Solving
Public Service
Tough
Years
Around
Nearly
Possible
Public
Ground
Making
Room
Promote
Search
Service
Table
Throughout
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I've had jobs that allow me the flexibility to achieve work-life balance, to be there when one of the kids sinks a jump shot or for the parent-teacher meetings. I can move tasks around. If I don't get something done at the office at 4:30 in the afternoon, I can go back to it at 10:00 in the evening.
Tom Perez /
Jobs
Achieve
Afternoon
Balance
Evening
Flexibility
Meetings
Office
Tasks
Allow
Shot
Jump
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How can we say we're for family values when so many women in the United States have to jeopardize their livelihood to take a few weeks off from work after giving birth? Should a man have to sacrifice his economic security to take care of his sick mother or his wife returning wounded from active duty?
Tom Perez /
Active
Birth
Economic Security
Family Values
Jeopardize
Livelihood
Sacrifice
Take Care
Wounded
Family Work Women
Returning
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When we talk about the kind of folks whose lives will be made better by raising the minimum wage, we're not talking about a couple teenagers earning extra spending money to supplement their allowance. We're talking about providers and breadwinners. Working Americans with bills to pay and mouths to feed.
Tom Perez /
Money
Allowance
Bills
Couple
Earning
Folks
Made
Minimum
Minimum Wage
Mouths
Not Talking
Pay
Providers
Spending
Spending Money
Talking
Talk
American
Money Better Will
Feed
Working
Extra
Raising
Supplement
Teenagers
Wage
Whose
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I share the skepticism that my friends have about NAFTA. It was woefully weak in protecting workers and on the enforcement side. The question is can we meaningfully build a trade regime that has as its North Star protecting American workers and American jobs through meaningful enforcement? I think we can.
Tom Perez /
American Jobs
American Workers
Enforcement
Meaningful
Nafta
Skepticism
Weak
Workers
Protecting
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Each year, Labor Day gives us an opportunity to recognize the invaluable contributions that working men and women make to our nation, our economy and our collective prosperity. It gives us a chance to show gratitude for workers' grit, dedication, ingenuity and strength, which define our nation's character.
Tom Perez /
Opportunity
Strength
Chance
Character
Dedication
Economy
Gratitude
Grit
Ingenuity
Invaluable
Labor
Labor Day
Men And Women
Prosperity
Workers
Strength Men Women
Men Women Chance
Show
Year
Collective
Nation
Contributions
Define
Each
Each Year
Strength Women Men
Gives
Recognize
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I've heard the argument that unemployment benefits somehow act as a disincentive to the long-term unemployed when it comes to looking for work, but the opposite is true. Unemployment Insurance serves as a powerful incentive for people to keep searching for jobs, rather than drop out of the labor force altogether.
Tom Perez /
Benefits
Labor
Long Term
Unemployed
Unemployment Benefits
Opposite
Altogether
Work People True
Drop
Work Looking People
Incentive
Insurance
Searching
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I was in the U.K. and Germany and went to Volkswagen and learned about their apprenticeship model - young people become paid apprentices in trades. It's not a coincidence that youth unemployment is far lower in Germany than the United States because there are paid opportunities for young people to get experience.
Tom Perez /
Apprenticeship
Coincidence
Germany
Unemployment
Lower
Trades
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From the new hate crimes law to the repeal of DOMA and 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' to the emerging popular support for marriage equality, we are making progress at breakneck speed. As someone who has dedicated most of my career to civil rights law, I am deeply moved by this sea change and proud to have done my part.
Tom Perez /
Equality
Marriage
Civil Rights
Dedicated
Emerging
Marriage Equality
Moved
Sea
Sea Change
Speed
Civil
Crimes
Popular
Repeal
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To realize President Obama's vision of opportunity for all, it's all about making the right match. The way we do that is through job-driven training - connecting ready-to-work Americans with ready to be-filled jobs. It helps more people secure a foothold in the middle class and helps businesses to profit and grow.
Tom Perez /
Connecting
Middle Class
Profit
Secure
Businesses
Match
More People
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Clearly, apprenticeships are a win-win: They provide workers with sturdy rungs on that ladder of opportunity and employers with the skilled workers they need to grow their businesses. And yet in America, they've traditionally been an undervalued and underutilized tool in our nation's workforce development arsenal.
Tom Perez /
Opportunity
America
Arsenal
Development
Employers
Skilled Workers
Undervalued
Win Win
Workers
Businesses
Clearly
Nation
Ladder
Provide
Skilled
Tool
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For many people, and particularly in communities of color, the basic bargain of America - that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can share in the nation's prosperity - has become a raw deal. That's what President Obama's opportunity agenda is all about - making good on our country's half of the basic bargain.
Tom Perez /
Color
Half
President
Prosperity
Share
Rules
Obama
Work Good Opportunity
Bargain
Basic
Communities
Nation
Deal
Particularly
Raw
Work Hard
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We need to enact comprehensive immigration reform, to bring people out of the shadows and empower them to more fully and freely participate in their communities and the economy. And we need to invest in our nation's deteriorating infrastructure - investments that would create jobs and benefit all sectors of the economy.
Tom Perez /
Comprehensive
Deteriorating
Immigration
Immigration Reform
Infrastructure
Reform
Benefit
Invest
Empower
Freely
Participate
Sectors
Shadows
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If the price of a burger goes up 5 cents, and the minimum wage that you have received is going up from $7.25 to $15 an hour - and there have been a number of studies that document just how much the price of a burger might go up if you increase the minimum wage. You match the costs, and the benefits far outweigh the costs.
Tom Perez /
Benefits
Cents
Increase
Minimum
Minimum Wage
Burger
Costs
Document
Number
Hour
How Much
Match
Outweigh
Price
Received
Studies
Wage
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Everything has changed in recent decades - the economy, technology, cultural attitudes, the demographics of the workforce, the role of women in society and the structure of the American family. It's about time our laws caught up. We watch 'Modern Family' on television, but we're still living by 'Leave It To Beaver' rules.
Tom Perez /
Society
American Family
Caught
Changed
Decades
Demographics
Economy
Modern Family
Structure
Television
Workforce
Rules
Time Family Women
Living
Attitudes
Beaver
Cultural
Watch
Leave
Family Time Women
Recent
Role
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What I hear from employers day in and day out is, 'I need to make sure I have that skilled workforce to compete.' And so we've been able to help so many people punch their ticket to the middle class by transforming our workforce development system for advanced manufacturing jobs and other critical jobs that exist right now.
Tom Perez /
Jobs
Able
Class
Critical
Development
Employers
Manufacturing
Middle
Middle Class
Transforming
Workforce
Sure
Advanced
Compete
Exist
Hear
Help
Manufacturing Jobs
Punch
Skilled
So Many People
System
Ticket
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I think one of the most important things we can do for people is to expand opportunity - whether it's the opportunity to live a life free of discrimination or the opportunity to get a good job that provides a gateway to the middle class. I've dedicated my career to expanding opportunity, and it's proven incredibly rewarding.
Tom Perez /
Class
Dedicated
Discrimination
Good Job
Important Things
Middle
Middle Class
Proven
Life Good Opportunity
Gateway
Expand
Incredibly
Rewarding
The Most Important
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What we want to do is call attention to the fact that when workers and business work together, when you create a stakeholder model of corporate governance, where you understand that you can do well by your workers, you can do well by your shareholders and you can do well by your customers, that's how we create a virtuous cycle.
Tom Perez /
Corporate
Governance
Shareholders
Virtuous
Workers
Work Business Together
Cycle
Work Together
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My parents both came to the United States from the Dominican Republic, and they were deeply grateful for the opportunities this country provided. They raised my siblings and me to want to make a difference and give back. They taught us to work hard and aim high, but to also make sure the ladder was down to help others climb up.
Tom Perez /
Aim
Aim High
Country
Dominican Republic
Grateful
Hard
Raised
Republic
Sibling
States
Taught
United States
Sure
Also
Back
Came
Climb
Deeply
Difference
Down
High
Give
Help
Help Others
Parents
Ladder
Make A Difference
Opportunities
Provided
Work Hard
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What we're doing here in America is we're making women choose between the family they love and the job that they need. No other nation on the planet is making these choices. In other countries, they've put politics aside and looked at the facts. When women succeed, the world succeeds. We're losing sight of that here in the USA.
Tom Perez /
Choices
Losing
Other Countries
Sight
Succeed
Usa
Aside
Choose
Nation
Countries
Looked
Planet
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There's this notion out there - and it's a categorically false notion - that the only business model in the service industry is the minimum-wage business model. I say phooey to that. You go to a Costco store, and you see people there who've been working there for years and years. They're making $15, $20 an hour, plus health benefits.
Tom Perez /
Benefits
Costco
Health Benefits
Notion
Plus
Health Business People
Business Model
Categorically
False
Model
Hour
Service
Store
Years And Years
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The theme of the Labor Department's centennial is 'Then, Now, Next.' So in honoring Esther Peterson, we look not just to the past but to the future, acknowledging with honesty and a sense of purpose the lingering challenges we still face and the distance we've yet to travel before equality is truly a reality in the lives of all women.
Tom Perez /
Department
Distance
Honesty
Labor
Lingering
Theme
Acknowledging
All Women
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Union members not only earn higher median wages; they are more likely to have paid sick leave, short-term disability, and employer-provided child care. Giving people a voice at work - the ability to organize and negotiate for their fair share of the value they helped create - is absolutely essential to a growing, vibrant middle class.
Tom Perez /
Child Care
Class
Disability
Fair Share
Giving
Higher
Median
Members
Middle
Middle Class
Organize
Paid
Share
Short Term
Sick
Voice
Wages
Absolutely
Work Value People
Earn
Leave
Essential
Fair
Helped
Likely
Negotiate
Union
Value
Vibrant
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Dr. King's last campaign was a labor struggle. Many people are aware that King was assassinated in Memphis in the spring of 1968. Less well-known is what drew him there: solidarity with city sanitation workers, who, without the benefit of union representation, were rising up to protest humiliating pay and deplorable working conditions.
Tom Perez /
Conditions
Humiliating
Labor
Memphis
Pay
Protest
Representation
Rising
Sanitation
Solidarity
Spring
Struggle
Workers
Aware
Benefit
Less
Campaign
City
Deplorable
Dr
Drew
Him
Union
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I'm a proud Dominican American. My folks always taught me that it's important to keep the ladder down and that to whom much is given, much is expected. That's why I have pursued a career in public service. I can't think of a better way to give back what this nation gave to us than to try to make sure that opportunity exists for everyone.
Tom Perez /
Folks
Public Service
Pursued
Always Opportunity Me
Better Way
Exists
Ladder
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The first Friday of every month is what we call Numbers Day - it's the day that the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the monthly jobs report. We have a ritual at the Labor Department - at 8 A.M., we gather around a table in my office, and the commissioner of labor statistics briefs me and the department's senior leadership on the numbers.
Tom Perez /
Jobs
Leadership
Department
Friday
Labor
Numbers
Office
Release
Ritual
Senior
Statistics
Month
Report
Bureau
Call
Commissioner
Gather
Monthly
Table
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When you work extra, you should be paid extra. That's what the Fair Labor Standards Act said. And I've met so many people who are working 60-70 hours a week, and they are effectively working 20 hours for free because they are making a little bit above the minimum wage, because the 2004 regulation enables employers to do that. That's not fair.
Tom Perez /
Employers
Labor
Minimum
Minimum Wage
Not Fair
Regulation
Standards
Work Free People
Effectively
Extra
So Many People
Wage
Copy Quote

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