Talking Politics and Political Dysfunction With the U.S. Labor Secretary

Last Friday, United States Labor Secretary Tom Perez visited Gawker Media’s headquarters to talk about jobs, inequality, unions, politics, the TPP, and much more. Watch him answer our questions, below.

Perez’s visit for an hourlong Q&A marked the historical high point of Gawker’s popularity with the U.S. government.

We’ve pulled out Perez’s response to five questions as individual clips below.

Perez on what American can learn from foreign workplace cultures, and vice versa

Perez on how labor standards will be enforced in connection with the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Perez on employer retaliation against workers for union organizing

Perez on the upcoming Supreme Court case Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Union, which challenges public unions’ ability to collect dues from all employees in a workplace

Perez on Congressional dysfunction—for the Obama administration, he says, “everything is a workaround.”

[Top photo by Victor Jeffreys. Video production: Nick Stango. Moderators: Alex Pareene and Hamilton Nolan]