A bitter Washington showdown is unfolding over the confirmation of President Biden’s nominee for labor secretary, Julie Su. The result is that Biden—who has repeatedly self-identified as the “most pro-union president in American history” and is running for reelection on that very distinction—may well be headed into 2024 without a labor secretary at all.
The big opposition to Su’s candidacy? It’s coming from her home state of California, and it is stalked by the ghost of Prop 22, that multi-hundred million dollar fight from 2020 over gig worker classification.
Su has a reputation for enforcement and application of labor law to the letter, especially in violations of overtime and worker misclassification. She worked in California as secretary of the state’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency during the implementation of the controversial AB5 law, which was passed in 2019 and made it more difficult for employers to keep workers as independent contractors without providing them benefits.
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So Silicon Valley front groups, like the Flex Association and the Chamber of Progress, which are funded in part by rideshare and delivery firms like Uber and Lyft, want Su as far from the office of labor secretary as possible. Their opposition is obvious—it’s all about gig work. “It’s the companies and sectors that have organized themselves as non-employers that are worried about being hit with minimum wage and overtime violations,” said Veena Dubal, a professor of law at...
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