Special Resolution In Honor of Thomas E. Perez
Adopted at the 84th Annual Meeting in 2016
WHEREAS, Thomas E. Perez has led the United States Department of Labor from July 2013 to the present, serving the country, the nation's mayors and President Obama with great distinction; and
WHEREAS, Secretary Perez has spent his entire career in public service, serving as assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice; as Secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation; and as the first Latino ever elected to the Montgomery County Council and serving as Council President in 2005, among others; and
WHEREAS, as U.S. Secretary of Labor, he has been a tireless and eloquent advocate for workers, families, cities and metro areas; and
WHEREAS, Secretary Perez has dedicated his entire career to making good on the promise of opportunity for all through his leadership; and
WHEREAS, he has forged a bold agenda at the Department of Labor to connect ready-to-work Americans with ready-to-be-filled jobs through such milestones as reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA); successful passage of the overtime rule; expansion of federal labor protections to cover home-care workers; new standards in the retirement-advising industry; an executive order to use the federal government's contracting process to create good jobs; and guidance aimed at stopping rampant worker misclassification; and
WHEREAS, Secretary Perez continues to fight tirelessly to ensure that no one who works a full-time job should have to live in poverty through his advocacy, alongside the nation's mayors, for an increase in the federal minimum wage,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,that The United States Conference of Mayors commends Secretary Perez for his transformative work to lift Americans out of poverty through work and career, to modernize and focus the nation's workforce development system, to strengthen the rights, protections, and dignity of Americans at work, and to engage a broad range of committed actors to accomplish these objectives, and thanks Secretary Perez for his close partnership and collaboration.