TIFTON — A candidate promised to put the “labor” back in the Georgia Department of Labor during a recent visit.

William Boddie, Democratic nominee for labor commissioner, held a rally at the Beulah Hills Baptist Church where he met with Tift County residents and shared his plans for reform in the Department of Labor.

During the rally, Boddie criticized the stance the department took during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting he and many other legislators had been required to become “de facto employees” of the labor department, taking calls from concerned residents unable to contact state labor offices. He surmised many of the residents in the audience had or had loved ones who had faced similar problems.

He asserted the department is vital to Georgia’s workforce, due to providing residents who had recently lost their jobs with unemployment benefits and resources to reenter the workforce.

He promised Tift County residents that if he is elected, he would work to mold the labor department into the organization he believes it should be. He would create a call center to ensure Georgians could speak with a person about concerns or update technology to ensure residents receive benefits and resources they need when they need them.

“I’m running to be Georgia’s next labor commissioner because we need a labor commissioner that’s going to put Georgia workers first,” Boddie said.

Boddie said he would maintain unemployment benefits, adding they are not handouts but a government-mandated service that many people rely on to get them through difficult times.

He said at one time, his family relied on benefits, too.

“I think about if my father, who had lost his job through no fault of his own, would not have been able to receive his unemployment benefits in a timely manner, I may not have ever been able to attend and graduate from Valdosta State University,” Boddie said. “I might not have been able to attend and graduate from Mercer Law School. I might not have been able to be a practicing attorney, I might not have been able to be a state legislator and I surely would not be on this stage talking to you all this afternoon as the Democratic nominee for Georgia labor commissioner.”

Boddie expressed his determination to not only work to increase funding for the labor department, and thereby increase potential support for Georgia’s workforce, but support the workforce itself.

He said he desired to not only create minimum-wage job opportunities for Georgia residents but provide them with training programs, resources and support from local business, school, and labor and worker organization partnerships, and benefits such as affordable health care and a pension.

Support would also extend to migrant workers, whom Boddie promised to protect and serve, and by expanding Medicaid, which the candidate said he is confident would expand the workforce.

“We’re going to protect all workers – migrant workers, domestic workers, workers in North Georgia, South Georgia, Middle Georgia, Coastal Georgia, Metro Atlanta Georgia,” Boddie said. “Because I intend on being the labor commissioner that’s going to be the labor commissioner for all workers across the state. I look to be the labor commissioner that puts ‘labor’ back into the Department of Labor.”

Boddie encouraged Tift County residents to spread the word about voting and urge their friends and loved ones to not only get out and vote, but vote early, and assured them that he and many of the other Democratic candidates of the upcoming election would be more than willing to hear their concerns.