Julie Su: As labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh wishes to vacate office since he plans to leave his position in March 2023. President Biden showed his will to nominate Julie Su, the deputy labor secretary, ‘whose contributions to this Biden administration achievements won her widespread backing from labor unions’, to succeed Martin.
Julie Su’s Ethnic Background
Ms. Su, a speaker of Mandarin whose parents were immigrants, served as head of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency before joining the Biden administration in 2021.
The agency won praise from worker groups for being quick to establish rules protecting workers from hazards related to COVID-19, but critics highlighted accusations that the agency paid out billions in fraudulent unemployment claims. Ms. Su conceded that a large number of unemployment insurance payouts during the pandemic had been improper, and Republicans cited those accusations in opposing her 2021 nomination as deputy, which the Senate approved, 50 to 47.
Julie Su Political Background
Julie Su is a democrat and labor advocate known for defending Thai garment workers in Southern California who were effectively enslaved and helped oversee the Department of Labor during an administration that has made strong overtures to organized labor and workers, both by communicating support for workers who are striking or seeking to unionize and through a series of regulatory, enforcement and legislative actions.
Ms. Julie is sure to advance a new regulatory agenda that will also be somewhat limited. As deputy labor secretary, she helped oversee the department’s push for rules designed to protect workers from COVID-19; a rule making it more likely for workers in the gig economy and elsewhere to be classified as employees rather than contractors; and a rule that would most likely raise the wages paid to workers on federally funded construction projects. The latter two rules have yet to be made final.
If confirmed, Ms. Su will take over the department at a time of rising interest in labor organizing. The labor secretary has little formal role in promoting unionization; it is the National Labor Relations Board that enforces labor rights. But Mr. Biden leaned on his first labor secretary to encourage workers to unionize, appointing Mr. Walsh to a task force to explore ways to increase union membership and including him in a White House meeting with union organizers.
Ms. Su would probably be deployed similarly and make the case for legislation that the administration had failed to enact, which could benefit Mr. Biden politically even if it was unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House over the next two years.
Republican’s Views on Julie Su
Many Republicans since this week have cited concerns over her involvement in advancing such regulations. “Deputy Secretary Su has a troubling record and is currently overseeing the Department of Labor’s development of anti-worker regulations that will dismantle the gig economy,” said Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the ranking Republican on the committee that will hold a hearing on her nomination, in a statement on Tuesday.
Among the assignments that may land on her desk are promoting the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, or PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize by threatening fines for employers that violated labor law, and elevating the importance of workers in service professions like child care and home care.
