Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, who’s being considered to run the department permanently, faces an uphill struggle in the tightly divided Senate and is being denied access to public information by the Biden administration.
Reports show Su’s official contact with the nation’s largest unions, which dominates her public schedule, was requested from the Labor Department last month by the conservative watchdog organization American Accountability Foundation. The agency missed its deadline to produce papers just as a confirmation vote on Su was coming up in the Senate.
According to Su’s public calendars, she has continued to establish the same tight links to unions that helped her ascend to power in California’s political process, where public employee unions have huge clout.
A report reveals The American Automobile Workers, The American Federation of Teachers, and the American Farm Bureau Federation all support Su. However, the International Franchise Association and the National Retail Federation have both claimed that her record of supporting stricter regulatory measures would stunt business expansion if she were to head the Labor Department.
The calendars show that Su meets with SEIU president Neal Bisno every three months for updates. She also participated in SEIU’s “wage theft” rally last May in favor of a controversial measure at the time being considered by the California Assembly that would give a special jurisdiction over fast food pay and benefits.
A court has temporarily blocked its implementation due to a lawsuit.
During her time as deputy labor secretary, Su met with no corporate executives.
According to a report, while serving as director of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, she oversaw the Employment Development Department (EDD), which is in charge of disbursing unemployment benefits in the state. Her watch over EDD saw nearly $36 billion stolen from the 170 billion dollars in pandemic jobless relief funds.
