Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh is stepping down from the Biden administration to become executive director of the NHL Players’ Association, hockey website Daily Faceoff first reported and the Wall Street Journal confirmed.
Walsh is the first member of the Biden cabinet to leave office. He was the mayor of Boston and a union president before entering the Biden administration. During his time as secretary, the Department of Labor pursued various pro-union policies, such as increasing regulation on non-union gig-economy jobs and tightening prevailing-wage rules under the Davis-Bacon Act.
He was also involved in brokering the deal between freight-rail carriers and unions, which ended up needing Congress’s action to be brought into force, and in the ongoing negotiations between unions and employers at West Coast ports.
Politico reports that Walsh was set to face more congressional scrutiny now that Representative Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.) is chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee. “House Republicans are planning to press DOL’s solicitor general on whether Walsh followed proper ethics protocols while pursuing the NHLPA job,” the story also says.
In returning to a union-leadership role with the NHLPA, he is expected to make about $3 million annually, according to Daily Faceoff. ESPN reports that players wanted an outsider to lead their union, though Walsh has ties to Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, who donated to his campaigns for mayor.
Deputy Secretary of Labor Julie Su will take over on an interim basis until a new secretary is confirmed. Su could end up being Biden’s nominee, and, if she is, Republicans should be ready to fight her confirmation in the Senate. Su was the secretary of labor in the California state government before joining the Biden administration. California’s disastrous labor policies, including A.B. 5 and the FAST Act, should be kept as far away from national policy as possible.