U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh made his third stop in two days in the South on Thursday when he headlined a roundtable discussion on workers’ rights at Jackson State University.
After stops in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Greenville, Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, spoke to a room of nearly 100 people on the struggles many in the Mid-South and across the nation are facing regarding workplace rights, compensation and conditions.
He made note of the H-2A Visa Program, which is meant to help employers find workers where there aren’t enough workers. Instead, in the Mississippi Delta, Walsh said farmers are using the program to bring in foreign workers at a lower wage to replace Black farm workers who have been in place for many years.
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“It’s a good program,” Walsh said. “Except in the Delta region, that program is being used to take jobs away from Black American workers.”
“This is 2022 and the days of segregation are over; the days of racism need to be in the rear view mirror; the days of workers’ rights needs to be here,” he said. “My job is not to make myself feel good or look good or not raise the minimum wage to keep prices down for employers. My job as a state representative and then as a mayor was to actually go out and pass laws and do things on behalf of working people. I...
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