Julie Su, the former California labor official who led the state’s embattled unemployment agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, is being pushed hard by Asian American activists to become the next U.S. Secretary of Labor.

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Su is now deputy secretary. Current Secretary Marty Walsh is expected to leave the job soon.

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“She is pre-eminently qualified,” said Gregg Orton, national director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, told The Bee.

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“Her work as deputy secretary of labor gives her a really strong track record,” said Orton, whose group is a coalition of 38 Asian Pacific organizations around the country.

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But Su has also been embroiled in controversy, and ran into tough opposition two years ago when she was nominated for her current job.

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Tom Manzo, founder of the California Business and Industry Alliance, is ready to battle her again if she’s picked for the top job. He plans to have a meeting early next week with other business groups to discuss how to proceed.

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“She’s failing upward. Only here could you do that kind of job, lose that kind of money and be the U.S. labor secretary,” he said.

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His allies will be up against some powerful forces. Su has won the endorsement of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus.

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Calling her a “stellar, exceptionally qualified candidate,” the Asian caucus said in a statement Su “has dedicated her career to the promotion of workers’ rights and fair labor practices.”

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And, the caucus said, the inclusion of an Asian-American as a cabinet secretary is “long overdue.”

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Added Rep. Grace Meng, D-New York, in a tweet, “Raise your hand if you think @USDOL Deputy Secretary Julie Su would make a great first #AAPI Cabinet Secretary under @WhiteHouse @POTUS! History in the making!”

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Biden and Asian Americans

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The Biden administration has several top-level Asian Americans, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Arati Prabhakar, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

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While Tai is a cabinet member, being a department secretary tends to carry more prestige in image-conscious Washington.

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Asian American Democrats have been pressing Biden to include more people from their community in top-level jobs.

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Two years ago, as Biden was filling top jobs, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, was critical of the lack of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. CNN reported at the time that she felt White House efforts to address the community’s concerns were troubling.

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“To be told that you have Kamala Harris, we are very proud of her, you don’t need anybody else, is insulting,” Duckworth told CNN, adding she’s been told that “multiple times” by the White House.

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The administration agreed to name a senior Asian American and Pacific Islander liaison and promised to include diverse voices in top level positions.

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Su and California unemployment

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A Su nomination would re-ignite the controversies that dogged her when she was nominated as deputy.

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Su, 53, was Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, which included the Employment Development Department, which manages California’s unemployment system.

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When the Covid pandemic devastated the economy, EDD was deluged with unemployment claims. At the same time, it had to handle new federal benefit programs that lacked the safeguards of state jobless benefit programs.

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EDD, like agencies throughout the country, made it a priority to get benefits out quickly. But consumers were often frustrated. EDD’s call center was overwhelmed, the website was criticized as confusing and there was extensive fraud. Estimates are that in California, $20 billion was lost to scammers.

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Those issues surfaced at Su’s 2021 Senate confirmation hearing as deputy secretary. “It is true that all states struggled, but California’s struggles swamp everyone. And none of their (other states’) secretaries of labor are here today seeking a promotion,” said Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, the committee’s top Republican at the time.

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The California Business and Industry Alliance mounted a vigorous campaign against Su’s confirmation, running ads in USA Today and the Wall Street Journal detailing its concerns.

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He’s ready to oppose here again. “The emphasis should be on what type of job this person has done to get a promotion. Quite frankly I think she’s been a failure,” Manzo said.

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Su was confirmed for her current job in 2021 by a 50 to 47 vote. No Republicans voted for her.

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Republicans continue to criticize the department’s operations under Su’s watch. The Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee is currently investigating EDD’s management of the unemployment system.

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At a hearing last week, Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., quoted Su in a January 2021 EDD conference call. She said, “there is no sugar coating the reality, California did not have sufficient security measures in place to prevent this level of fraud.”

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Su has said that the fraud issue was extraordinary, part of a criminal conspiracy that reached well beyond California.

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Most of the fraud involved the federally-funded Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, a program created by Congress as COVID spread in March 2020 to provide help for people who traditionally don’t qualify for regular coverage, such as independent contractors and small business owners.

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Su and workers rights

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Su supporters Friday pointed to her record as a worker rights advocate.

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Su was lauded by labor and immigration activists for her 1995 effort aiding undocumented immigrants from Thailand who worked in sweatshop conditions for long hours at an El Monte garment factory.

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In 2001, the MacArthur Foundation awarded Su a genius grant and noted how she filed a “landmark federal lawsuit on behalf of these workers, establishing a precedent that expands the scope of employment responsibility beyond manufacturing subcontractors to the retailers and fashion designer labels that initially contract for the work.”

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Su won monetary compensation for her clients as well as legal immigrant status. . The case became an important milestone in efforts to battle human trafficking.

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Su was appointed California Labor Commissioner in 2011 by Gov. Jerry Brown, overseeing the department that enforces California’s strong labor laws.

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She was a big supporter of the California law that gave protections such as overtime to many workers in the gig industry, a law fiercely opposed by many in the business community.

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There are lots of reasons for Su to get the job, said Orton of the Asian Pacific Americans Council.

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“As deputy secretary working side by side with Secretary Walsh, she has acted as the chief operating officer. Someone with that amount of exposure to operations of the agency is instrumental in making sure things continue to work.”