MC&E: More Employment Is Top Priority, Chao Says

(Michael James - TT) U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -– The Department of Labor's top priority “is getting displaced workers re-connected with the workforce,” Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said here Tuesday night.

Speaking here to the American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition, Chao said Tuesday night her top priority will be pay benefits to the unemployed and to re-train workers displaced since the Sept. 11 attacks.

When asked if there would be a new ergonomics proposal during the first two years of the administration, she said “Our timeline has been delayed. We’re pushing out money for assistance to displaced workers and we’re very preoccupied with that.”

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Another interest she mentioned was cutting the number of regulations the department administers. In January when Bush took office, she said there were 132 Labor Department regulations left pending by the Clinton administration.

So far she has cut away 34 of them, and advised those at the association’s closing banquet, “We’re just getting warmed up.”

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