The National Retail Federation (NRF) welcomed today’s committee approval of Alexander Acosta as Secretary of Labor and said quick confirmation by the full Senate would help bring back balance at an agency where “ideological whims” have blocked job creation.
“The sooner we have a new labor secretary in office, the sooner employers and employees can see relief from the partisan politics of the past administration that held back job creation,” said NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations David French. “Alexander Acosta will be a pragmatic leader who will put economic reality ahead of ideological whims and restore fairness and balance to the Labor Department. His combination of experience in both public service and the private sector gives him the real-world knowledge of what it takes to protect workers without undermining efforts to grow the economy by putting more Americans to work.”
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted this morning to approve Acosta as Secretary of Labor, setting the stage for a final vote by the full Senate. NRF sent a letter to the committee earlier this month supporting the nomination and saying labor policies under the Obama administration created “immense uncertainty” for employers on issues such as overtime expansion and joint employer status between companies and subcontractors or franchisees.
NRF is the world’s largest retail trade association, representing discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and Internet retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries.
