Labor Secretary Marty Walsh Offered Top Post at NHL Players' Group

Walsh was also a key player in negotiations between unions and freight companies that sought to avoid a rail strike that would have disrupted the national supply chain.

At least one Republican was critical of Walsh’s coziness with unions upon learning the news.

“Secretary Walsh’s job performance doesn’t warrant celebration, it warrants the penalty box—at best,” Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the leader of the House committee that oversees DOL, said in a statement. “At every opportunity—he has failed to be a balanced and neutral actor in his role, selling out the American worker for Big Labor. America’s workforce deserves better.”

One worker advocacy group praised Walsh’s work in reaction to the news, and called on Biden to quickly name a replacement who will continue the administration’s focus on expanding workers’ rights.

“We hope the next Labor Secretary builds on Mr. Walsh’s successes in supporting the collective power of workers, particularly immigrant workers,” Nadia Marin-Molina, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said in a statement. “Valuing immigrant workers’ contributions, bringing immigrants into the social contract, removing chronic injustices from the labor and immigration systems—these are vitally important goals. We urge the President to quickly name a successor who will pursue them.”

Bridging Labor, Management

This isn’t Walsh’s first foray into sports politics. Last year he offered to help end the lockout between Major League Baseball and its players’ union.

Known for the ability to bring both labor and management to the table in his previous role as mayor of Boston, Walsh continued that approach in his leadership at the DOL, often drawing plaudits from management-side groups for his openness.

Walsh was confirmed as the head of the DOL in March 2021, and led the agency as it attempted to require Covid-19 vaccines at workplaces and update rules on whether workers should be considered independent contractors or employees under federal wage law.

Walsh also oversaw the creation of the office of unemployment insurance modernization at the DOL, which sought to address the failing technology that led to millions of dollars lost to fraud and massive delays during the pandemic.

The former head of the Boston Building and Construction Trades Council also co-led a White House taskforce on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which outlined steps the federal government could take to encourage collective bargaining within the federal workforce and in federal contracts.

—Ian Kullgren contributed to this report

(Image: Bloomberg)