Elaine Chao was 8 years old and couldn’t speak a word of English when she sailed past the Statue of Liberty at the end of a monthlong journey from Taiwan. Chao, her mother and two sisters came to join her father, who had traveled here three years prior to start a ship brokerage business. Chao says her family believed in the American Dream, but she never imagined she’d become a member of the Cabinet.
One look at her resume and her political ascent seems almost predestined. She was a White House fellow who became the protege of former Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole. She was deputy transportation secretary from 1989 to 1991 and was appointed by President George Bush in 1991 as director of the Peace Corps. In 1992, she was brought in as president of a troubled United Way to right that agency after it nearly fell to an embezzlement scandal involving its past president.
Whispers of a Cabinet position began soon after Chao delivered an impressive speech to the Republican National Convention last year. In January, Chao, 47, who is married to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), was nominated by President Bush to become the 24th secretary of labor. Like the vessel that once carried her past the lady who has welcomed thousands of newcomers, her nomination sailed to approval.
Her job is important to everyone who works for a living in America. Chao has been asked to give the last word on the ergonomics debate after Congress, in March, overturned federal regulations imposed in the final days of the Clinton administration. She’s acted as a liaison between labor unions and an administration that has been called anti-labor. And she has established an Office of the 21st Century Workforce to address the employee skills gap, worker shortages and to promote the viability of America’s laborers.
Chao recently shared some of her thoughts on those issues and others important to workers. What follows is an edited transcript:
Q. What did we learn from three hearings held over the summer to examine whether the federal government should impose ergonomics regulations?
A. When I testified before Congress on ergonomics earlier this spring, I laid out six principles. One was that any course of action that we take should be based on sound science. It was important to get doctors who had knowledge on this issue, who had actual experience on this type of injury, and hear from them. I think if businesses are irresponsible, they need to be penalized. What complicates this issue is we don’t know what is an ergonomics injury. I want to make sure workers are protected. But I want to make sure that whatever course of action the government takes that it is a responsible course of action. I’ve got an open mind.
Q. What’s wrong with the definition of ergonomics injuries we’ve been using? Why, after tons of research linking repetitive-motion injuries to the job, are we still in doubt?
A. I think that’s what these hearings were intended to find out. How do we determine whether an ergonomics injury is work-related or not? What should we do if causality is mixed or unclear? If someone has hurt themselves on their own personal time and they come into work on Monday and they claim that somehow their weekend injury has been exacerbated, how does an employer handle that? We need guidelines. We need a set of rules. All of us.
Q. What do you have to say to critics who have labeled the Bush administration “anti-labor”?
A. I think that’s very unfair. I think a parallel question could be `Did the Clinton administration have a totally pro-labor, pro-union stance?’ The Department of Labor doesn’t represent management, doesn’t represent unions. We represent the entire workforce. I’ve had very good relationships with organized labor. I was head of the United Way of America, which is a full partner with organized labor. I took over at a time when the organization’s survival was in peril, and organized labor was very helpful.
Q. Have you identified a common agenda with organized labor?
A. I think training and development. The president’s national energy plan will create new jobs. I think this 21st Century workforce is an issue that all stakeholders can buy into. I work very, very hard to find areas of common interest in which different stakeholders can join in and participate. Unions are very concerned about job opportunities for their rank and file in the new economy. And so I think there are lots of opportunities where I can work with organized labor on training and development of the workforce.
Q. What are the challenges facing the 21st Century workforce?
A. I’m concerned about the flexibility of our workforce, the international competitiveness of our workforce. Any organization will attest to the fact that they’re only as good and effective as the people in that organization. The same principle applies to our country. Our economic vitality depends on the quality of our workforce. We have to make sure our workforce is able to keep pace with the changes in the 21st Century workplace. They’ve got to be better educated, trained, more skilled. Manufacturing jobs are decreasing and service sector jobs are increasing. Many of these jobs go begging because so many Americans lack the requisite skills to fill these jobs. That’s a tragedy. It is the role of this department to try and close this skills gap. The solution does not lie solely with the federal government. There is no way the federal government will have enough resources to train every single person in America who needs it. We need to partner with the private sector and the non-profit sector to ensure that the training programs are providing the best training possible and that they are resulting in individuals landing jobs.
Q. Cities and counties experienced major cuts in training dollars for dislocated workers this year. Is this type of government aid on its way out?
A. That’s not true at all. There’s a $1.7 billion excess in training funds from the previous years. In fact, the training dollars exceed the capacity of the system to absorb at this point. The money is block-granted to the states. In fact, it’s less federal government control. More control is passed to the local state governments. They have the discretion to spend it how they see fit through the WIA (Workforce Investment Act) boards. The WIA boards are being restructured. It’s going to take time. I know that a lot of communities are working away at reconstituting these WIA boards to make them more relevant, to make them more inclusive, and I think that’s good.
Q. Thousands have been laid off during this economic slump. Should Americans be worried about future employment?
A. It is very, very tough for individuals who have been laid off or suffered in this economy. My heart goes out to them. We at the Department of Labor will do everything we can to ensure that workers who are facing layoffs or are losing their jobs will have ample resources to put themselves back on the track of a new job. We have a whole host of programs that will help workers who are concerned about transitioning. We’re facing a shrinking workforce. The Baby Boomer generation is retiring at an earlier age. Long-term trends indicate we will be facing a more permanent worker shortage. There are many other flexible work arrangements that we need to explore.
Q. What job-related issues are most important to working Americans?
A. The fast pace of change and the balance between work and family. I think everyone of us feels like the world is just zooming by us at an accelerated pace. We’re living in an information age. What’s important is the ability of workers to invest in themselves, keep themselves relevant in terms of work skills, education and training.
Q. Has your immigrant background been an asset in your job?
A. We had very little when we came to America. But we were armed with the greatest of all gifts, and that is a belief in the basic decency and generosity of this country. My parents were enormously aspiring people. They’re people of faith . . . and they also empowered their daughters to believe that anything is possible in this country. I never expected to be in the Cabinet, but I think it’s another testament to the opportunities in this country. I hope that my experience as an immigrant will help me in my current job. It certainly has given me much greater empathy toward newcomers to this country.
Q. You’ve held very demanding jobs and have worked a pretty frantic schedule. What impact has this had on your personal life?
A. If there’s any regret in my life, it is that I wasn’t able to start a family. I think that’s another example of where you just can’t have everything in life. I think younger women nowadays, perhaps I won’t say they have an easier time, but they have a different set of challenges. A lot of older women have not been able to achieve balance at work and family life. But I’ve been blessed in many, many other ways. I have a wonderful husband. He’s very supportive. And we have a wonderful marriage, and we have a lot of fun together.
