U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh speaks in the course of the annual North America’s Building Trade’s Unions Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. on April 6, 2022.

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U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh speaks in the course of the annual North America’s Building Trade’s Unions Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. on April 6, 2022.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Two years into the job, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is becoming a member of the Great Resignation.

The Labor Department introduced Thursday that Walsh, a former union chief and mayor of Boston, will depart his publish in mid-March. His subsequent cease: the National Hockey League Players’ Association, the place he was unanimously appointed Executive Director, the NHLPA stated in a press release.

“As someone who grew up in an active union family and is a card-carrying union member, serving as Secretary of Labor and being given this unique opportunity to help working people is itself a privilege,” Walsh stated in a letter to colleagues shared by the Labor Department.

He referred to as Biden “the most pro-worker and pro-union president” in U.S. historical past.

Walsh’s Senate affirmation in March 2021 was celebrated by labor organizations and unions who have been thrilled to see certainly one of their very own put in as Labor Secretary.

In what was maybe his greatest check as Labor Secretary, Walsh stepped into the high-profile labor dispute between the nation’s freight railways and the rail unions, brokering a tentative deal to avert a nationwide rail strike. However, the deal proved unpopular with rank-and-file rail workers for its lack of paid sick depart, amongst different issues. Some rail employees blamed Walsh, saying he, together with Biden, had allow them to down.

In the tip, after a number of rail unions voted to reject the deal, Congress stepped in to impose the phrases to maintain the trains operating by means of the vacations. Shortly thereafter, one freight railroad reopened talks with unions over offering paid sick depart, saying offers earlier this month.

Under Walsh’s management, the Labor Department has pushed for a reshaping of office legal guidelines and laws, together with proposing a rule that might decrease the bar for who should be labeled as a worker of an organization reasonably than an impartial contractor. The rule might have an effect on development employees, dwelling well being care aides, custodians and others who, as impartial contractors, are usually not entitled to extra time pay and different federal protections.

“While independent contractors have an important role in our economy, we have seen in many cases that employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors, particularly among our nation’s most vulnerable workers,” Walsh stated final October, when the proposed rule was unveiled.

The son of Irish immigrants, Walsh grew up within the working-class Dorchester neighborhood of Boston and adopted his dad into development, serving to to construct Boston’s waterfront. He rose to guide Laborer’s Local 223 and later the umbrella group generally known as North America’s Building Trades Unions, the place he represented tens of hundreds of development employees.

As information of Walsh’s departure emerged, labor teams supplied reward.

“Marty Walsh has labor in his bones, and he proudly championed the nation’s workers in Washington just as he’s done throughout his life and career,” stated American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. “North America’s hockey pros, Boston Bruins players among them, could not ask for a more dedicated and committed advocate.”

In his goodbye letter, Walsh praised his deputy Julie Su, who previously led California’s labor and workforce company, saying he was “confident there will be continuity and the work will be sustained.”