Politics
Jul. 14—No one can feint surprise at Sen. Joe Manchin's announced opposition to Julie Su to serve as U.S. secretary of labor. But our continued disappointment in the state's senior senator is justified yet again.
Despite touting Su's credentials as "impressive," and they are, and despite the fact that Manchin voted for her confirmation as deputy secretary two years ago, our Mountain State Democrat — an imperiled politician in the GOP age of Trump and a ruby red conservative home state electorate — said he ultimately decided to vote against her over a concern regarding ideology. He has called her more progressive background a bridge too far when it comes to hammering out compromises amenable to both parties. Manchin said he wants a voice for both industry and labor in the role — despite the fact that this is a labor position that looks after the interests of laborers, like so many workers in his home state.
The thing is we all know better. The senator is not pulling the wool over anyone's eyes.
Su is a civil rights lawyer and former California labor commissioner who has served as deputy labor secretary since 2021. She became acting labor secretary in February when Marty Walsh left the post to become head of the National Hockey League players' union. Just one piece of Su's impressive and deep biography speaks volumes. As a lawyer for low-wage and immigrant workers in 1995, she represented more than 70 undocumented Thai garment workers who were forced to work in sweatshop conditions. Su led a team of lawyers to secure legal immigration status and $4 million in stolen wages for the 72 enslaved Thai nationals. The case eventually led to federal protections for victims of human trafficking. It was a case that gained widespread attention at the time and, because of her advocacy, won her international recognition.
The senator ought to consider that Su fights for the rights of laborers, vulnerable ones at that, not an industry that was testing the limits of indentured servitude.
And just weeks ago, Su brought labor and industry together to avert a potentially catastrophic port strike on the West Coast, negotiating a contract between U.S. West Coast seaport employers and the union representing 22,000 workers.
Yet, the senator says he will cast his vote against Su and it will have nothing whatsoever to do with merit, with achievement, with her credentials or her managerial and administrative track record of having run the labor department the past several months. Manchin's vote is all about one thing and one thing only — his political survival and appeasing the conservative voices in his political calculations.