Julie Su
SMACNA has sent a letter and reached out to offices in the United States Senate endorsing the nomination of Julie Su to serve as Secretary of Labor. Su, who is currently the Acting Secretary, would succeed former DOL Secretary Marty Walsh, who departed the Biden Administration to serve as the Executive Director of the National Hockey League Players Association. Su, with a long history of public service, including as the Deputy Secretary of Labor and as acting Secretary of Labor, earlier served as the secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency and a California labor commissioner. But it was for her long list of apprenticeship and prevailing wage reforms as well as her work as Deputy and Acting Secretary of Labor that earned Su the support of organized labor, SMACNA and other union contractor organizations.
In the letter addressed to the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and individually shared with the entire Committee, SMACNA CEO Aaron Hilger lauded Su's efforts to update and reform decades old rules to better reflect the intent of Congress when the statutes were enacted.He also praised her work to energize the Labor Department's effort to reform and enhance the quality, standards and enforcement oversight of the registered apprenticeship programs to meet and address the current and future skilled workforce shortage crisis. SMACNA also applauded her collaborative approach to labor - management outreach since she began her service at the federal level.
This morning, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee voted to advance Julie Su’s nomination out of committee and the nomination is now awaiting a floor vote. Click here to review the full hearing. You can also review SMACNA's endorsement here.
