Congratulating WRC Board Member Julie Su, Nominee for Deputy Secretary of Labor

The WRC congratulates our WRC board member and longtime friend, Julie Su, who was nominated by the White House yesterday to serve as Deputy Secretary of Labor, the second highest office in the US Labor Department.

A pioneering worker rights advocate, who brought landmark lawsuits on behalf of Thai immigrant garment workers subjected to slave labor conditions in Southern California in the 1990s, Julie currently serves as Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the top office in the nation’s second-largest government agency protecting worker rights.

Julie has supported the WRC’s labor rights work for many years and joined the Board in 2017.

Yesterday’s White House announcement states, in part “…Su is a nationally recognized expert on workers’ rights and civil rights who has dedicated her distinguished legal career to advancing justice on behalf of poor and disenfranchised communities, and is a past recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant. As California Labor Commissioner from 2011 through 2018, Su enforced the state’s labor laws to ensure a fair and just workplace for both employees and employers. A report on her tenure released in May 2013 found that her leadership has resulted in a renaissance in enforcement activity and record-setting results.… In 1995, she was the lead attorney for Thai garment workers who were trafficked into the United States and forced to sew behind barbed wire and under armed guard in an apartment complex in El Monte, California.… Su has taught at UCLA Law School and Northeastern Law School. She is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School…. Su is the daughter of Chinese immigrants and speaks Mandarin and Spanish.”

Julie has informed the WRC that, in light of her nomination, she is leaving the board of the WRC. We thank Julie her for her service on the WRC Board, and we wish her the best in her newest mission to protect the rights of working people.