Korean Centennial (Feature) Communities Brace for Second INS Registration Deadline (in National News) Wins Workers Get $337,000 in Back Wages From Lockbox (in Bay Area News) Matsui Heads for the Bronx: Frog, Prince or Toad? (in Sports) Look Out! Films to see in 2003 (in A&E) Emil Amok: In Defense of the Short and Fat (in Opinion)

Thank You Elaine Chao

Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to bring you some GOOD news this week on the Asian Pacific American labor front. After 18 months of struggle, workers who were owed months of back wages from the Wins of California garment factory received $337,000 out of the lockbox where their money was being held while the legal proceedings were worked out. That put them among the 263,593 workers last year who obtained some $175 million in back wages through the help of the Department of Labor, a one-third increase over 2001’s figure and the largest amount collected by the department in a decade.

The Wins victory really came through in the past few months when the Department of Labor, headed by Elaine Chao, took a special interest in the case and helped push through the bureaucracy to make sure the workers got some of the money that was owed to them. Chao made the plight of these local workers a national priority, exemplifying the way big government needs to work with local groups to help the people. The Wins garment workers’ case fell exactly into Chao’s big campaign as secretary of labor: getting justice especially for vulnerable workers and using tough prosecution to deter other owners from straying from the law.

In fact, Chao has been doing a great job as the first Asian Pacific American woman to serve in a presidential cabinet. Her experience, ranging from being the head of the Peace Corps to being a banker with Citicorp, has come through in her vision for the American workforce, “one in which everyone can participate … where jobs and opportunities are available for those leaving welfare, job training is accessible for those left behind, disability never bars a qualified person from the workplace, and where parents have an easier time balancing the responsibilities of work and home.”

Not only is she making sure to take care of the APA community, but she has beefed up the focus on women in her department and is now working hand-in-hand with President Bush on his new growth and jobs plan.

Chao, who arrived in this country as a monolingual Chinese speaker at the age of eight, has achieved amazing success but has not forgotten where she comes from. She should be commended for a job well done.