# Virginia Labor Secretary Jessica Looman offers strategies for protecting workers' rights

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqi0AhPJqKM
Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/Uqi0AhPJqKM
Generated: 2026-03-06T18:09:13.116+00:00

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## Quick Overview

Virginia Labor Secretary Jessica Looman, speaking at the Warf Memorial Election, outlined that advancing workplace rights requires advocates to focus on being good partners, employing strategic thinking, and ensuring policy advancement through electoral, legislative, and administrative advocacy, while emphasizing that enforcement alone is a symptom, not the solution, to worker protection failures.

**Key Points:**
- Looman stressed that advocates must first assess if they are good partners before expecting partnership from others, warning against 'othering government, othering employers, othering partners.'
- Advocacy types include electoral (prioritizing worker voice and recognizing 'personnel is policy'), legislative (understanding the 'flavor' of the legislature and assessing if 'the juice is worth the squeeze'), and administrative.
- Getting a bill passed is not the win; the win is implementation, which requires integrating funding considerations into legislative advocacy, as enforcement is a symptom of failure, not the solution.
- Enforcement is under-resourced nationally, with the US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division having less than 600 investigators for 165 million workers, equating to $1.50 invested per worker annually in wage enforcement.
- Administrative advocacy involves engaging on access, education, and compliance assistance, exemplified by using FAQs instead of formal regulations to implement expanded FLSA protections for nursing employees.
- Looman urged advocates not to bring enforcement cases to agencies unless they are part of larger strategic goals, as government resources are too limited to address every violation individually.

**Context:** The event is the annual Warf Memorial Election hosted by the Harvard Trade Union program, where speakers acknowledge retiring ASME leader Alisa McBride and honor the memory of Jerry Warf, a former president of ASME known as a 'ferocious fighter of bosses and injustice.' Jessica Looman, the newly appointed Secretary of Labor for Virginia, is introduced following her tenure as administrator of the DOL's Wage and Hour Division and her 30-year membership in the Laborers International Union of North America.

## Detailed Analysis

Jessica Looman delivered a speech focusing on strategies for advancing workplace rights through effective partnership and multi-faceted advocacy, structured around being a good partner, being strategic, and achieving advancement. She challenged the audience, composed of union members, advocates, and government workers, to check their unconscious biases against government or employers, which hinders good partnership. Looman detailed three types of advocacy: electoral, emphasizing 'personnel is policy' by influencing appointments to regulatory boards; legislative, requiring an understanding of the local political 'flavor' and assessing if 'the juice is worth the squeeze' for specific policy outcomes; and administrative advocacy, which requires active engagement with regulatory bodies. A central theme was that enforcement is not the ultimate solution; rather, it is a reactive tool. She highlighted severe under-resourcing in federal enforcement, noting that getting a law passed is insufficient without dedicated implementation funding, and advocated for high-impact, low-cost methods like compliance assistance, citing the nursing employee break time expansion as an example where FAQs were used instead of slow rulemaking.

### Introduction and Honorees

- Sharon introduced Jessica Looman and acknowledged the retirement of ASME's Alisa McBride and Lee Saunders
- The lecture honors Jerry Warf, whose wife Mildred was also a labor educator
- The Warf fund supports scholarships and research, including on state-based heat standards.

### Core Advocacy Tenets

- The key takeaways for advancing workplace rights are partnerships, strategies, and advancement
- Advocates must question internal biases against government or employers to become good partners
- Strategic analysis requires taking labels off stakeholders (government, union, employer) to see dynamics clearly.

### Three Types of Advocacy

- Electoral advocacy focuses on electing officials who support worker protections and recognizing that 'personnel is policy' in appointments
- Legislative advocacy demands understanding the legislature's 'flavor' and prioritizing implementable success over entrenched agendas
- Administrative advocacy involves maintaining relationships with regulatory offices like the Governor's or Labor Secretary's office.

### Implementation vs. Enforcement

- Passing a bill is not the win; implementation is the goal, which requires integrating funding considerations into policy advocacy
- Enforcement is a symptom of failure; the US has minimal investment in wage enforcement ($1.50 per worker annually)
- Advocates should not bring every case to enforcement agencies unless it aligns with larger strategic goals, as resources are scarce.