Secretary of Labor visits Birmingham to bring people in from the sidelines for ‘Good Jobs’

The acting U.S. Labor Secretary brought her national “Good Jobs Summer Tour” to Birmingham, where she pledged a federal commitment to promoting, retaining, and growing quality employment for the city and the state.

“I am here because Alabama matters. I am here because Birmingham matters,” Julie Su said during her presentation Wednesday at the North Birmingham Library.

Flanked by Mayor Randall Woodfin, both Su and the mayor agreed to principles outlined in the Good Jobs campaign, that include: recruitment and hiring, benefits, diversity, the right to union representation, job security and fair working conditions.

“‘Good Jobs’ mean a job with security, a job where you do not just get by, but get ahead,” Su said.

She described the principles as “opportunity infrastructure,” where the path to advancement is clear.

“These roads and bridges are just as important as our physical roads and bridges,” she said.

Su and Woodfin also participated in a workforce roundtable discussion before her formal presentation.

Su’s visit to Birmingham comes a day after she visited an electric bus production facility in Anniston. The New Flyer bus plant recently accepted a union and continues to produce vehicles that service the country, Su highlighted.

“We know that those kinds of jobs can be the jobs of the future if we work together and we do it right,” she said.

Su said the Labor Department is focused on providing information to workers, employers, and governments to advance principles of Good Jobs.

“This partnership and relationship between the city of Birmingham and the Department of Labor is extremely important,” Woodfin said later. “We have to be very, very intentional about how we support workforce development, how we continue to invest in workforce training, but even as an employer how we do everything we can to take care of our existing employees.”

While he touted successes and forthcoming plans, Woodfin noted that four out of 10 Birmingham adults remain “on the sideline,” regarding the poverty rate, and more work remains to be done to address that disparity.

Su underscored Woodfin’s point, saying that principles of the initiative would help uplift people who are left out of recent positive economic and job growth.

“We are seeing across the level historic levels of unemployment, and the other way to bring people in from the sidelines is to make sure that the jobs we are creating are good jobs that are going to allow people to make a real life, to be able to get ahead not just get by,” she said.

In addition to the City Hall, Chu said Birmingham has existing institutions and agencies that will be part of the initiative.

Woodfin said the city’s participation in the initiative does not require new laws or polices.

“This conversation is way broader than the city of Birmingham as an employer. There are many employees in the private sector who have challenges of workforce recruiting, so all of us are aligned about what’s necessary to create the necessary conversation and, then action plan

to continue to get more people off the sidelines and into gainful employment thereby decreasing poverty in this community.”

Dev Wakeley is worker policy advocate for Alabama Arise, who attended the event, told Al.com that the goals presented Wednesday support the aims of his organization. Arise is a consortium of faith-based groups civic and non-profit agencies to address issues facing Alabamians living in poverty.

“We saw the closest thing you could imagine to unity of purpose. The Department of Labor is very much interested in building an Alabama where people can really participate,” Wakeley said after the gathering. “When the Department of Labor comes in and talks about wanting to build good jobs that really allow for human being to thrive and advance and to provide for their families, we are grateful for their presence, and we love to hear that.”