The difference between Marty Walsh and Julie Su

Feb 27, 2023

QUICK FIX

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su is not nearly the road warrior that Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has been.

A POLITICO review of the top labor officials’ public schedules for the past six months shows that Su spent much less of her time out and about than the outgoing Labor secretary.

While Walsh has traveled across the country on DOL business 40-plus times between August and January, Su has done so just a fraction as much — venturing beyond the capital not more than once or twice per month.

The divergence can be chalked up to structural and stylistic differences between the pair. For one thing, a Cabinet official is generally more in-demand than their No. 2 — much like how a presidential visit is preferable to landing the veep.

Plus Su relocated to D.C. after joining the administration — versus Walsh, who did not — and so it is unsurprising that of the two, she is a far more regular presence in the Frances Perkins Building.

They also took two divergent paths to DOL. Walsh is, of course, a quintessential Irish-Catholic Bostonian with a union background before entering electoral politics.

President Joe Biden entrusted Walsh to be one of the administration’s key emissaries — including outside of Washington — a role he’s gladly embraced.

Meanwhile Su is an veteran litigator who speaks three languages and spent years in top bureaucratic roles in California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and its Labor and Workforce Development Agency.

Su is not a political novice; one doesn’t get to the upper echelon of state government in a place like California unless they have at least some facility with the inside game. But it is different from the skillset Walsh has that caught Biden’s eye in the first place, and is a reason that Su is not yet a shoo-in to take the top job (see below for more on that.)

The Labor Department did not return a request to comment.

GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, Feb 27. Welcome back to Weekly Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Send feedback, tips, and exclusives to NNiedzwiadek@politico.com and OOlander@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter at @nickniedz and @oliviaolanderr.

We’re spilling the tea (and drinking tons of it in our newsroom) in U.K. politics with our latest newsletter, London Playbook PM. Get to know all the movers and shakers in Westminster and never miss a beat of British politics with a free subscription. Don’t miss out, we’ve got some exciting moves coming. Sign up today.

Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.

On the Hill

GOP TAKES ON ESG RULE: The House is voting on a resolution this week to roll back the Labor Department’s recently finalized rule giving more freedom to fiduciaries to weigh environmental, social and governance factors in their investment decisions for 401(k) plans and other vehicles.

H.J. Res. 30 is expected to pass the GOP-controlled House, though its chances are less clear in the Senate — though it did pick up the support of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). However even if it does clear Congress, it is unlikely to survive a presidential veto.

On the flip side, a handful of House Democrats, led by Rep. Suzan DelBene, last week introduced legislation to codify the ability to take ESG factors into account in 401(k) funds and other investments.

More hill news: “House cafeteria workers eyeing pickets, walkouts if contract talks sour,” from Roll Call.

Around the Agencies

SPEAKING OF SU: The lobbying campaign to get the White House’s attention as Biden mulls whom to nominate as his next Labor secretary is intensifying of late.

Democrats in California, and their union allies, are pushing to elevate Su, a fellow Golden Stater. The state’s GOP delegation in Congress is similarly gunning to sink her chances, pointing to her record overseeing California’s unemployment insurance system and support for a controversial law affecting gig workers in a letter sent earlier this month.

Meanwhile West Wing Playbook this week reported on an effort by a constellation of progressive groups beseeching the president to not nominate ex-Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, for whom former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been trying to drum up support.

The Washington Post reported Friday that Su and flight attendant union leader Sara Nelson are being vetted by the White House as potential Walsh successors. Outgoing National Football League Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith is getting some support from organized labor.

More agency news: “Lawyers Unsure Whether Workers Who Agreed Not To Can Now Disparage Former Bosses,” from Vice.

In the Workplace

MADE IN AMERICA (WITH CHILD LABOR): The New York Times is out with a damning investigation into the pervasiveness of child migrants working in factories and other job sites throughout the United States — a problem that has only gotten worse as the number unaccompanied minors has skyrocketed.

“The federal government knows they are in the United States, and the Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for ensuring sponsors will support them and protect them from trafficking or exploitation.”

“[HHS] began paring back protections that had been in place for years, including some background checks and reviews of children’s files, according to memos reviewed by The Times and interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees.”

Related: “Hyundai to divest Alabama subsidiary following child labor revelations,” from Reuters.

Even more workplace news: “Employment rate for Americans with disabilities reached record high in 2022,” from Axios.

Unions

STARBUCKS DODGES BULLET: A federal judge in Michigan issued a nationwide injunction against Starbucks to not fire or retaliate against pro-union employees, only to reverse course days later and issue a narrower ruling that only applies to a single store in Ann Arbor.

The reversal from Judge Mark Goldsmith, an Obama appointee, is unusual and a significant blow to Starbucks Workers United organizers and the National Labor Relations Board, which brought the lawsuit.

“We are pleased that the court rejected the National Labor Relations Board’s overreaching and inappropriate request for a nationwide cease-and-desist order as we continue to pursue a full legal review of the merits of the case,” a Starbucks spokesperson said.

A nationwide injunction against Starbucks would have strengthened the NLRB’s hand by allowing it to pursue monetary penalties for labor law violations that it typically cannot through its regular enforcement processes.

In his Thursday decision, Goldsmith said the NLRB “has not demonstrated that Starbucks has implemented a corporate-wide anti-union policy” to justify the original order.

NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo in a statement called the revised order “disappointing” but noted it “still provides critical protection” at the Ann Arbor Starbucks.

MLS PLAYERS JOIN AFL-CIO: The union representing Major League Soccer players announced it is affiliating with the AFL-CIO, ESPN reports.

The move comes several months after the Major League Baseball Players Association similarly joined the AFL-CIO, which last year created a Sports Council as a way to link together professional sports unions across the country — and tie them to organized labor more broadly.

JOIN POLITICO ON 3/1 TO DISCUSS AMERICAN PRIVACY LAWS: Americans have fewer privacy rights than Europeans, and companies continue to face a minefield of competing state and foreign legislation. There is strong bipartisan support for a federal privacy bill, but it has yet to materialize. Join POLITICO on 3/1 to discuss what it will take to get a federal privacy law on the books, potential designs for how this type of legislation could protect consumers and innovators, and more. REGISTER HERE.

IN THE STATES

CASTE DISCRIMINATION BAN ENACTED: The city of Seattle has enacted the country’s first official ban on caste-based discrimination, The Guardian reports.

“Calls to outlaw discrimination based on caste, a division of people based on birth or descent, have grown louder among South Asian diaspora communities. … But the move is also contentious, and has seen opposition from some Hindu Americans who argue that such legislation maligns a community that is already the target of prejudice.”

More state news: “WA Senate passes bill to bar hiring discrimination for cannabis use,” from The Seattle Times.

Immigration

ONE, TWO PUNCH: The wave of layoffs across Silicon Valley and other industries that lean on high-skilled immigrant workers is heaping stress on newly unemployed visa-holders to find jobs to stay in the country, The Washington Post reports.

“The high-tech visa mess has caught the attention of advocacy groups and some Democratic lawmakers, who’ve begun lobbying the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to extend the length of time that high-tech visa holders can remain in the country after losing their jobs, from 60 to 120 days.”

More immigration news: “DeSantis blasts immigration laws once popular with Florida Republicans,” from POLITICO Florida’s Matt Dixon.

What We're Reading

— “Death on a Dairy Farm,” from ProPublica.

— “Burned Out, More Americans Are Turning to Part-Time Jobs,” from The Wall Street Journal.

— “Permission-Slip Culture Is Hurting America,” from The Atlantic.

— “Inside the Employee Revolt Rocking Amazon,” from the Daily Beast.

— “AI is starting to pick who gets laid off,” from The Washington Post.

— “Florida workers got sick after Deepwater Horizon oil spill. They want BP to pay,” from the Tampa Bay Times.

THAT’S ALL FOR SHIFT!

Follow us on Twitter