Obama Labor Secretary Tom Perez Just Joined an Anti-Union Law Firm
Former DNC chair and Obama labor secretary Tom Perez just joined a law firm that brags about its lawyers who “regularly counsel and train clients on union avoidance” — another member of an administration that posed as “progressive” yet was anything but.
Secretary of Labor Tom Perez speaking with supporters of Hillary Clinton at a campaign rally, 2016. (Gage Skidmore / Flickr)
Former Obama labor secretary Tom Perez announced on Thursday that he’s joining the law firm Venable LLP, whose website boasts that its lawyers “regularly counsel and train clients on union avoidance.”
Perez, who was the Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair until January, joins a growing number of Obama officials who cashed in their government experience with jobs at union-busting companies. That list includes press secretaries Jay Carney, who became the top flack at Amazon, and Robert Gibbs, who spent several years as a top flack for McDonald’s. Obama senior advisor David Plouffe served as policy chief at Uber, while former senior adviser Valerie Jarrett has a board seat at Lyft.
Rather than avoid issues he oversaw as labor secretary, Perez said in a press release he will be working specifically on those issues.
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