Saunders celebrates selection of Mayor Marty Walsh as the next labor secretary

WASHINGTON — AFSCME President Lee Saunders released the following statement on President-elect Biden’s nomination of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as U.S. secretary of labor:

“After four long years of brazen hostility toward working people, the Labor Department will now have leadership that is true to its mission and purpose.

“Secretary-designate Walsh will drive an agenda that gives working families the tools they need to thrive. As secretary, Walsh will focus on boosting wages, investing in skills training, enhancing retirement security, ending the unfair exclusion of workers from minimum labor standards, strengthening job safety and more. With his longstanding relationship and deep mutual trust with President-elect Biden, Mayor Walsh is positioned to be an influential voice in the administration and a powerful advocate for unions and all working people.

“Mayor Walsh is one of us. He cut his teeth in the union movement, joining the Laborers’ International Union of North America as a young man and going on to lead the Boston region Building and Construction Trades Council. He has important executive experience, having successfully run one of the nation’s largest cities for the last seven years. He has also been forward looking on issues of racial justice, with a strong record of creating opportunity for working people of color, both at the Building Trades and at City Hall.

“Secretary-designate Walsh understands the contributions public service workers make to the strength and vitality of our communities. On behalf of the 1.4 million AFSCME members, I am proud to support him and look forward to working with him.”