By Rural Builder Staff
President Joe Biden has nominated Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as labor secretary, the Biden-Harris transition team announced Jan. 7.
As the first union member to fill the role in “nearly half a century” if confirmed, Walsh will be part of the incoming administration’s effort to “usher in a new era of worker power,” according to the transition team. Walsh became a member of the Laborers’ Union Local 223 in Boston at 21, according to the Boston Globe, and served as the group’s president before heading the Building and Construction Trades Council.
The mayor pledged his support to the working class after his nomination was announced. “Working people, labor unions, and those fighting every day for their shot at the middle class are the backbone of our economy and of this country,” he said in a tweet. “As Secretary of Labor, I’ll work just as hard for you as you do for your families and livelihoods. You have my word.”