9/9/2021

My Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Build back better! My favorite remark that you made yesterday at the Tribute to Labor Unions Event at the WH was “everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity.” I try to treat the home health care providers who come to my house that way. I will have a whole crew of them here next week while I am on a trip to my mother’s house in VA. Most are young women at the Community College, but the person who comes each week to help with personal hygiene is a grandmother. She works non-stop while she is here, doing all of the dishes and cleaning the kitchen while I teach my class.

She is a blessing! I believe that she gets a decent wage from her employment agency, run by a young business woman who seems to be on the up & up. Our contract indicates that she has insurance & is paying taxes. Scheduling her employees for clients whose needs are constantly changing creates a communications challenge. I am grateful to her & her crew.

            The home health workers are the kind of people that Julie Su (JAS) cares about. I was so impressed to read about her this morning & am wondering why she is the Deputy Sec. of Labor rather than the head honcho. Her efforts to protect marginalized workers & promote racial & gender equity are much more compelling to me than Sec. Marty Walsh’s experience as a good-old-boy making deals between unions & businesses in Boston.

JAS’ recent work in CA as the leader of our Labor Dept is inspiring. I especially like the idea of “job quality index” published by the state to help workers choose their employer. Bloomberg Law opines that JAS might clash with her new boss because she’s more progressive than he is. Please seek out her opinions. I think she has a lot to offer.

            Please continue to keep an eye on Myanmar. Good news is the 300 units of 10-liter oxygen concentrators they just got from Singapore. Bad news is Marc Andre LeQuieu, an American, is teaching the rebels how to make bombs. War is not the Answer!

         BYBS,