Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is Confirmed to Lead Labor Department

Labor News

Francis Perkins Department of Labor building, Constitution Avenue, Washington, DC

Reprinted from The Washington Post by Eli Rosenberg on March 22, 2021.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was confirmed Monday by the Senate as secretary of labor, setting the stage for him to take the reins of an agency that is central to President Biden’s worker-friendly agenda.

Walsh (D), 53, a friend of the president’s who was a favored candidate of organized-labor groups such as the AFL-CIO, will be the first labor secretary to come from a union background in nearly 50 years.

He rose to prominence in Boston through the building-trades unions after dropping out of college early to work in construction. He also served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Walsh’s nomination was relatively uncontroversial. He was approved on a 68-to-29 vote. …

Washington Post 3/22

 

EPI Applauds the Confirmation of Marty Walsh as Secretary of Labor

Reprinted from The Economic Policy Institute by Heidi Shierholz on March 22, 2021.

EPI commends the Senate’s confirmation of Marty Walsh as Secretary of Labor [on Monday]. Walsh’s extensive experience as mayor of Boston and in the labor movement with the Boston Building and Construction Trades Council positions him to uphold and enforce labor standards and improve the wages and working conditions of all workers.

Throughout his career, Walsh has promoted policies that improve the lives of workers and their families, including supporting a robust minimum wage, protecting workers from wage theft, and creating good union jobs. After four years of the Trump administration systematically undermining the interests of working people and prioritizing the interests of corporate executives and shareholders above all else, there is a tremendous amount of work to do to protect and expand the rights of working people. This moment calls for courage and ambition, and we are ready to work with Secretary Walsh to make the changes the working people of this country need and deserve.

EPI 3/22

About Jeffrey Burman 861 Articles
Jeff Burman served on the Guild’s Board of Directors from 1992 to 2019. He is now retired. He can be reached at [email protected].