Unions and labor advocates with high hopes that President Biden
A $15 minimum wage provision was jettisoned from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan; labor’s top legislative priority, the PRO Act, is once again stalled in the Senate; and a union organizing effort at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama was soundly defeated.
Union leaders argue that Biden is still delivering on his campaign promise to be a pro-union president and that progress has been slow going because of razor-thin Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. But many progressive groups say Biden needs to be fighting harder for unions, especially with unified control of the White House and Congress for the first time in a decade, and that words of support like in the Amazon union fight aren’t enough.
Amid rising fears among union leaders that Joe Biden would name Bernie Sanders as secretary of labor, Newsmax reported on November 23rd that he would instead turn to the favorite of labor chieftains and a personal friend as well: Boston Mayor Marty Walsh..
California Labor Secretary Julie Su has declined to publicly discuss the role. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo
California labor secretary in serious contention for Biden Cabinet
SACRAMENTO, Calif. California s labor secretary began her legal career fighting for Thai garment workers held captive in a Los Angeles sweatshop. Decades later, she s in serious contention to join the Biden administration as secretary of the U.S. Labor Department, according to sources familiar with transition discussions.
Julie Su, the daughter of Chinese immigrants and a longtime advocate for low-wage workers, would step into the role as the country reels from an economic crisis that has disproportionately burdened women, people of color and workers with less education.