Statement from Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers,
On GAO Assessment of Department of Labor Performance on Wage Disputes

The Government Accountability Office today released a report criticizing the U.S. Department of Labor’s handling of overtime and minimum-wage disputes.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—When the U.S. Department of Labor was created, one of its roles was to be a safety net to defend and support workers. The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) assessment of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division highlights the department’s lack of accountability and failure in its most important duty—protecting those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

At the behest of the current administration, the Labor Department has been relentless in putting obstacles in front of unions dedicated to helping working-class Americans. The department’s micromanagement of unions coupled with the failures of its Wage and Hour Division have been a one-two punch to America’s working families.  

I applaud Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) for holding a hearing on the wage theft issue, and encourage the Labor Department to hire more investigators and radically upgrade its enforcement of the laws protecting workers’ paychecks.

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