Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston and a former union president, was confirmed by the Senate to be the new Secretary of Labor, marking a seismic shift in role of the department in union development and membership, NBC News reports.
Confirmed by a 68-29 vote, Walsh led the Boston Building Trades Council, a group of trade unions, before running for the state legislature in 1997. He was elected mayor of Boston in 2014, a position he resigned upon being nominated by President Joe Biden to head the Labor Department.
Biden has openly encouraged union membership, particularly in an organizing effort at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama, even making a video noting that the only people who can decide if they organize are the workers themselves, not their employers or the government. Biden has repeatedly said that labor unions are the key to a successful middle class.