Monday morning musings for workplace watchers.
Su Out Front|Picket Practice
Rebecca Rainey: Julie Su isn’t waiting on the Senate anymore.
Despite not making any appearances, press statements, or issuing any rules outside of her nomination hearing since she was tapped to serve as Secretary of Labor in February, Su is now embracing her current role as “acting” leader of the US Department of Labor.
Su hit the jobs day media circuit earlier this month, taking interviews on behalf of the administration following the release of the June jobs data, a typical labor secretary duty she had skipped in previous months.
She also recently gave public remarks at events highlighting the DOL’s Job Quality Academy and “Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy.” And she traveled to California to assist in negotiations between the West Coast ports and the union representing dockworkers there, helping clinch a tentative deal in the stalled contract talks.
On the DOL’s regulatory front, the agency has begun to advance several rulemakings, including a highly anticipated proposal on overtime pay and new worker safety requirements, after weeks of standstill since Su was nominated.
The acting secretary also engaged in a rare back and forth with reporters during a conference with the Port of Los Angeles last week. When asked about her pending nomination, Su said she was “hopeful,” but also acknowledged that the path forward wouldn’t be easy.
“Listen, I can walk and chew gum at the same time, so we can work toward confirmation as well as do the important work of American workers and the American people in my role as Acting Secretary,” she said.
Reality Check: Odds aren’t looking great for Su’s confirmation, however. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) officially announced last week that he wouldn’t vote for her. And while the White House said at the time of Manchin’s announcement that President Joe Biden’s support for Su is “unwavering,” the statement from the administration also let slip that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) is also a “no” on the nominee.
It’s unclear whether Su’s change in tone is an effort by the administration to show that the DOL is still chugging along as the nomination process drags on, or if it’s a sign that the White House is starting to throw in the towel on her nomination—at least behind the scenes—and shifting her into acting secretary mode. Several big-ticket regulations have been sitting at the DOL for months, and without movement on them soon, major pieces of Biden’s labor agenda could run into legal trouble.
Ultimately, there’s nothing stopping Su from helming the department without Senate confirmation. The administration says under the statute that created the Labor Deparment Su can legally serve as acting head...indefinitely.
Read More:
- Su’s Timeline Leading the DOL: Rules for Acting Heads Explained
- White House ‘War Room’ Assembled to Push Labor Secretary Pick
- Stymied Su Nomination Mirrors Slack Labor Department Rulemaking
Ian Kullgren: Huge labor demonstrations on both coasts took place over the weekend as Hollywood shut down and the Teamsters hurdled toward a strike with UPS—too much to cover in one Punching In column. But one novel approach employed by the Teamsters grabbed our attention.
Most of the general public has never heard of “practice picketing,” as it’s kind of an oxymoron. Labor law wonks know it’s generally unlawful for a union to go on strike if a collective bargaining agreement is still in effect, providing the contract has a clause pre-empting strikes, which is standard.
But the Teamsters have found a way to sidestep that pesky restriction, making it a cornerstone of their pressure campaign on United Parcel Service Inc. The practice pickets, which are just what they sound like, don’t involve any actual work stoppages. But they accomplish the dual goal of attracting free press coverage, and preparing the union rank and file for a strike.
So far, the union has held practice pickets in Iowa, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, New York, and California, among others.
The second goal for the practice pickets, however, may be the more important one. Strikes are wars of attrition; the winning side must outlast its opponent, and unions need to make sure their members are ready for what’s coming.
“It shows us that this is a group that is really ready to strike if they need to,” said Ileen DeVault, a labor historian at the Cornell University School of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien held a practice picket on Friday with UPS workers in Brooklyn, ahead of a joint rally over the weekend with UAW President Shawn Fain, who kicked off negotiations with Detroit automakers this week.
We’re punching out. Daily Labor Report subscribers, please check in for updates during the week, and feel free to reach out to us.
To contact the reporters on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Learn more about Bloomberg Law or Log In to keep reading:
See Breaking News in Context
Bloomberg Law provides trusted coverage of current events enhanced with legal analysis.
Already a subscriber?
Log in to keep reading or access research tools and resources.