Labor Secretaries

While I don’t agree with all the details in this piece, particularly around the seeming belief that unionists themselves should serve in the position and that the government is per se an ineffectual ally of the labor movement at best, this is a good run-down of the history of the people who have served as Secretary of Labor, how the office has changed over time, and the few people who can legitimately be seen as actually important in the job. Basically, it’s Perkins way above everyone else, then people like Tom Perez, Willard Wirtz, William Wilson, and a very few others. It’s generally been a backwater, which is of course how Republicans want it. For Democratic presidents, it really depends. Even Robert Reich wasn’t able to do much with the job.