The Washington Post story about the nomination of Julie Su as secretary of labor begins, “President Biden on Tuesday nominated Julie Su to be the next labor secretary, elevating a longtime advocate for workers to implement a key part of the administration’s agenda.” The print version of the same story carried this headline: “Biden nominates longtime pro-worker advocate to lead Labor Department.”
Which workers?
Probably not truck drivers, who had their business models upended by California’s A.B. 5 law, of which Su was “an architect,” according to the Post, during her tenure as California’s labor secretary from 2019 to 2021.
Probably not other independent contractors, who had to be reclassified as employees under A.B. 5 in many different industries. Independent contractors, contrary to media impressions, are mostly not “gig workers” and are commonly found in countless industries holding well-paying full-time jobs. When surveyed, they overwhelmingly say they prefer their independent status over traditional employment.
Probably not fast-food workers, many of whose jobs would be automated away if California enacts the FAST Act and raises the minimum wage to $22 per hour. Su supports the FAST Act as well, but it was so radical that even Californians said it went too far. They put the law on hold through a petition drive, and it will be up for a referendum in 2024.
Probably not workers who needed unemployment assistance from the California state government during the pandemic. Many of them were put on waiting lists or had their benefits frozen while scammers took billions from the state government due to mismanagement by an agency Su oversaw. Scammers stole an estimated $32.6 billion from the state, spurring the NBC affiliate in Sacramento to produce an entire documentary series about the failures of the agency.
Who gets quoted to back up the headline that Su is pro-worker?
Leaders of the organized labor movement commended Biden for Su’s nomination on Tuesday and highlighted her career as evidence that she was prepared to fulfill Biden’s promise to support unions and working people. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said that Su has already been central to Biden’s effort to lead “the most pro-worker administration since FDR.”
“We commend President Joe Biden on this hugely important nomination,” said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation. “There’s no one more dedicated and qualified to defend the fundamental rights of working people than Julie Su.”
Those are the only quotations in the story from outside the White House that are supportive of Su. Never mind that 89.9 percent of American workers aren’t union members, or that plenty of American workers are still pretty upset about the prolonged school closures that Weingarten’s union supported.
In addition to the unions that the Post mentions, just about every major national union in the country put out a statement gushing over Su, a fact that the White House was happy to highlight. But her track record in California shows that for the vast majority of Americans, the non-union members, her policies would not do much good.
By “pro-worker,” the Post means “pro-union.” That’s not a mistake the media should still be making in 2023.