Senate Republicans were holding the Herman nomination hostage in an attempt to derail a Clinton initiative to stop the use of taxpayer monies for union-busting by government contractors. The anti-worker gang also opposed an executive order encouraging project labor agreements.

The BMWE joined in phone banks to help pressure for the confirmation vote, declaring the dispute another continuation of Congress’s assault on working families.

The Republican-led delay in Herman’s confirmation proceedings--which started from the moment she was nominated--left the agency responsible for protecting pensions, safety and wage and hour rights without a confirmed secretary for four months.

"It was imperative that the Department of Labor be fully operational with a confirmed secretary," said BMWE President Mac A. Fleming in explaining why the Brotherhood put its grassroots mobilization into action. "Labor--which protects workers--was the only department the Republican-run Senate left without a leader."

Republican leaders pulled Herman’s confirmation vote in an attempt to blackmail Clinton into withdrawing modest, but important worker rights initiatives.

The first, promised by Vice President Al Gore at the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting last February, would reform federal procurement rules to require review of a company’s labor practices and prohibit taxpayer financing of an employer’s attempt to prevent organizing. A second initiative would encourage the use of project labor agreements--or an up-front understanding that union labor will be used--in federal construction projects.

"These actions are being opposed by right-wing members of Congress and their big business backers solely because they would assist working families in winning their rights with employers," explained the AFL-CIO.

The standoff was broken when Clinton substituted a presidential memorandum for the executive order--changing the vehicle but not the message.