Thomas Perez, President Obama’s nominee for secretary of labor, told the Senate Judiciary Committee today his top priority, if confirmed, would be “jobs, jobs and jobs.” Perez also told the panel:

The mission of the Department of Labor is the mission of America…building ladders to the middle class.

AFL-CIO General Counsel Lynn Rhinehart attended the hearing and covered it via Twitter. Here are some selected tweets, and you can read her full coverage here.  

"We have an enormous deficit...the jobs deficit" @senatorbarb #TomPerez

— Lynn Rhinehart (@Lynn_AFLCIO) April 18, 2013

.@usdol must ensure safe and equal opportunity workplace, pension security and wage and hour laws #TomPerez

— Lynn Rhinehart (@Lynn_AFLCIO) April 18, 2013

I share president's vision of growing economy, powered by middle class says #TomPerez

— Lynn Rhinehart (@Lynn_AFLCIO) April 18, 2013

Perez has been serving as Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Division. In that role, says the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCR) in a letter to the Senate, 

He helped build consensus with stakeholders to uphold civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Mr. Perez stepped up enforcement of human trafficking laws and efforts to ensure veterans can keep their jobs while serving in the military. He has also been a tireless champion of voting rights, disability rights, and equal educational equity and has prosecuted some of the most heinous hate crimes in recent memory.  

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says, “At a time when our politics tilts so heavily toward corporations and the very wealthy, our country needs leaders like Tom Perez to champion the cause of ordinary working people.”

And working families need and deserve a strong advocate as their Secretary of Labor—one who will vigorously enforce job safety standards, wage laws and anti-discrimination rules, and who will speak out forcefully for working families and their workplace rights, including their right to join together to improve their lives and working conditions.