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President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he planned to nominate Julie Su, the current deputy and former California official, as his next labor secretary, replacing the departing incumbent, former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.
Su, a civil rights attorney and former head of California's labor department, was central to negotiations between labor and freight rail companies late last year, working to avert an economically debilitating strike. She also has worked to broaden worker training programs and crack down on wage theft. If confirmed by the Senate, Su would also be the first Asian-American in the Biden administration to serve in the Cabinet at the secretary level.
Biden, in a statement, called her a “champion for workers."
“Julie is a tested and experienced leader, who will continue to build a stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive economy that provides Americans a fair return for their work and an equal chance to get ahead,” he said. “She helped avert a national rail shutdown, improved access to good jobs free from discrimination through my Good Jobs Initiative and is ensuring that the jobs we create in critical sectors like semiconductor manufacturing, broadband and healthcare are good-paying, stable and accessible jobs for all.”
Su was considered to lead the department when Biden won the White House but instead became the department’s deputy. Walsh announced his intention to leave the administration earlier this month to lead the National Hockey League Players’ Association. Su will serve as the acting secretary until the Senate acts on her nomination.
Biden had been under pressure from the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and other Asian American and Pacific Islander advocates to select Su to head the department. This administration was the first in more than two decades to not have a Cabinet secretary of AAPI descent, despite its regular declarations that it was the most diverse in history. Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai are of AAPI descent but don’t lead a Cabinet department.
Su, if confirmed, would also expand the majority of women serving in the president’s Cabinet. She was confirmed by the Senate to her current role in 2021 by a 50–47 vote.
Who is Julie Su?
She was previously California’s labor secretary, and before that, the state’s labor commissioner: Before joining the Biden administration, Su had served in two different labor roles for the state of California. She was first California labor commissioner from 2011-18. She also served as secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency from 2019-21. She then joined the Biden administration.
She’s been called “wage theft’s top cop:” Investigating and combating wage theft was a top priority for Su when she entered the labor commissioner’s office. In 2012, the office’s field investigations dramatically increased the wages that they were evaluating: 462% more in minimum wages and 642% more in overtime wages than the year prior.
She won a groundbreaking labor case to free 72 enslaved Thai garment workers: In 1995, Su was a human rights lawyer working for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and she became a champion for undocumented garment workers. One of her most prominent cases centered around 72 Thai garment workers who had been enslaved in a sweatshop near Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Su co-founded a coalition called Sweatshop Watch: In 1995, Su co-founded Sweatshop Watch, a coalition working to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The group has brought cases on behalf of “hundreds” of low-wage workers. For her work on behalf of human rights, Su was awarded a McArthur Foundation “genius grant” in 2001.
Her nomination as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor faced controversy: When Su was nominated as deputy secretary of labor, she faced criticism in her role in the ongoing crisis at California’s Employment Development Department. During the pandemic, the department was delayed in approving unemployment benefits, while also paying out “billions on fraudulent claims,” according to the Los Angeles Times. “There is no sugarcoating the reality,” Su said at a news conference when it was revealed that at least 10% of the $100 billion-plus paid out by the EDD was fraudulent. “California did not have enough security measures in place.”