U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis brought urgently needed change to the Department of Labor, putting the U.S. government firmly on the side of working families.  As the 25th secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis brought a new level of energy and commitment to a department that had languished during eight years of Republican control.  Under Secretary Solis, the Labor Department vigorously enforced laws designed to protect worker safety, wage and hour standards and retirement security.

Secretary Solis crisscrossed the country defending the rights of workers to form unions and bargain collectively, and she was a leading voice in the administration for the idea that a strong middle class depends on a strong and independent trade union movement.  Secretary Solis never lost sight of her own working-class roots, and she always put the values of working families at the center of everything she did. Four years ago, Secretary Solis promised America’s workers that “a new sheriff” had come to town. Hilda Solis more than lived up to that promise and left a legacy that raises the bar for those who will succeed her at the Department of Labor.