Julie Su’s incompetence as California’s labor secretary through the COVID-19 pandemic value the state $32 billion to unemployment insurance coverage fraud. She should have been fired.
As a substitute, President Joe Biden appointed her deputy U.S. labor secretary in Feb. 2021 and she or he was confirmed that July. After Secretary Marty Walsh resigned, she turned performing secretary. In Feb. 2023 she was nominated by the president for the put up. However her poor efficiency in California held up the nomination.
On Feb. 27 the Senate Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions Committee voted to advance her nomination to the complete Senate, the place it should quickly be thought of. The vote was 11 Democrats to 10 Republicans.
Committee Chair Bernie Sanders of Vermont held the hearings behind closed doorways. Why the secrecy? That is labor coverage, not nuclear coverage. Bernie’s personal web site cites his requires “transparency” within the operations of oil companies and U.S. trade policy. The hypocrisy is staggering, however not stunning.
In California, Su enforced the horrible Assembly Bill 5, which canceled the rights of “gig” staff to behave as impartial contractors. In 2019, she boasted her company would “be doing investigations and audits” as a result of gig work is “not the sort of financial system we would like in California.”
As performing secretary, Su additionally has superior anti-worker insurance policies. The Wall Avenue Journal reported she backs the Defending the Proper to Set up Act: “This coercive invoice would strip staff of their proper to say no to affix a union, which greater than half of states shield.” The PRO Act additionally would finish the suitable to secret-ballot votes, as already was carried out final 12 months in California towards farm staff when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 113.
Though the U.S. unemployment fee is a low 3.7%, in California for January it was a comparatively excessive 5.1%, and rising. That scored second worst among the many states after Nevada’s 5.4%. The Newsom-Su insurance policies of current years ought not be prolonged to the entire nation. We urge California Sens. Laphonza Butler and Alex Padilla, each Democrats, to reject Su’s nomination.
California has suffered sufficient already from her anti-worker insurance policies.