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President Joe Biden is nominating Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su, who previously headed California's labor department, to be the next Secretary of Labor, the White House said on Tuesday.

If confirmed, Su will become the first Asian American to join Biden's cabinet at the rank of secretary. 

Current Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, announced earlier this month he is leaving the administration mid-March to lead the NHL players union. 

Altogether, there are three Asian Americans currently in Biden's cabinet. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Arati Prabhakar, who leads the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, though, are not secretaries. Kamala Harris, the first Asian American to serve as vice president, is also a cabinet member.

Democrats control the Senate, which will need to confirm Su for the role, and she has the backing of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus as well as the Congressional Black Caucus.

But her confirmation could still be contentious. California Republicans, including Rep. Young Kim, who is Korean American, wrote Biden earlier this month 

, citing her role in crafting a state law known as AB5 that classifies some gig workers as employees. Critics say AB5 severely limits businesses' ability to hire freelancers. 

A focus on fighting for disadvantaged people

Su, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, has

put legal fights around issues in the Asian community at the center of her career since

she graduated from Harvard Law School, getting her professional start as a staff attorney at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, now the Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California or AJSOCAL.

At age 26, she served as the lead attorney in a 1995 case that helped recover more than $4 million in wages stolen from trafficked Thai garment workers in a Los Angeles County sweatshop. After getting word that there was going to be a raid at a facility where there were largely Thai speaking workers, she accompanied members of Thai Community Development Center, who helped translate, to the site.  

The case later spurred Congress to pass an anti-trafficking law in 2000 that secures visas for survivors of trafficking and forced labor.

"Her heart really is for those who are most disadvantaged in this society," said Aileen Louie, the chief of staff at AJSOCAL who is close friends with Su and whose children think of Su as an aunt.

After Harvard, Su was eager to return to California, where she attended Stanford University as an undergraduate

 to help low-wage workers, particularly those in Asian restaurants, Louie told NPR in a phone interview.

Her work spread out from there, said Ai-jen Poo, a labor activist and the president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. 

"So many different sectors and communities have been touched and impacted by her work," Poo said of Su, who speaks both Mandarin and Spanish.

Poo got to know Su personally when she was California's top labor official and  worked closely with California's domestic workers' coalition to inform caregivers, nannie, cleaners and others of their rights.

Su's family background will help her bring a unique perspective to the role, Poo said.

"I think growing up in a community like that, you both believe that the impossible is possible in this country and you know the inequities that exist," Poo said.

Asian American Democratic lawmakers had originally pushed Biden to tap Su for Labor Secretary in 2021, but they ultimately fell short. Instead she was nominated to serve as Deputy Labor Secretary, and was confirmed

, Biden called Su "a champion for workers," pointing out her role in helping to avert a national rail shutdown late last year and to ensure fair wages for workers in sectors such as semiconductor manufacturing, broadband and healthcare.

The White House was also vetting flight attendant union president Sara Nelson, along with Su, for the top job, 

Politics and Government News

Mary Yang

Author

The former California labor head would be the first Asian American to serve as a secretary in Biden's cabinet

Biden taps Deputy Julie Su to lead the Labor Department

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