(KTSF by Sean Au)
Department of Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis met with workers from the Chinese and Latino communities in Chinatown to learn more about the problems they face at work. Solis also announced some $15 million in funding to help students of community colleges to develop further education or career paths.
Lishuang Li has has been in America for 18 years. She first worked in a Chinatown restaurant without knowing much about her rights as an employee. “When my kids are sick, I did not know that I am entitled to paid sick leave,” says Li.
Secretary Solis learned about Li’s story and others who share similiar experiences. Solis emphacized that it is this group of workers that needs the most help. “They have been in the communities that have suffered the most under the recession and now with the recovery, we want to make sure that they have also got a leg up, that they have opportunities for training, that they also hear about our protection and workplace programs that we have, especially geared toward those comunities,” says Solis.
Solis also announced that her department has awarded a consortium consisting of community colleges, CSU East Bay and UC Berkeley, the sum of $15 million to create a regional workforce system to help students craft ‘career transfer pathways’ through a training referral and placement system. Funding will also go to the One-Stop Career Center system to help workers get job training.
More information may be obtained from the Department of Labor website: dol.gov
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