Secretary of Labor, Julie Su, spoke at a conference in honor of Asian American Heritage Month on May 13, reflecting on her family’s own path to the U.S., including her mother’s union job and trip to the U.S. from China on a cargo ship.
Su is an American attorney and government official who has served as an acting United States secretary of labor since 2023. She’s also the 37th United States deputy secretary of labor, serving since 2021. Elaine Lan Chao was the first Asian American woman to serve as United States secretary of labor in the administration of George W. Bush from 2001.
As the daughter of a Taiwanese father and a Chinese mother, Su, who was born in 1969, is a second-generation Asian American woman who grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, a predominantly white community. Su is the first Asian American on President Biden’s cabinet at the secretary level and has spent many years advocating for low-wage workers as a civil rights worker, focusing specifically on things like Unions during her career.
Su’s mother first arrived in the U.S. on a cargo ship, where she was not even able to afford a ticket on a passenger ship from China. But she was able to get a union job that came with paid leave and health benefits, helping her family move into the middle class. She understands that through the benefits of unions, her family was able to benefit tenfold, and she wants to help other underprivileged, low-wage workers. In an interview with news company NRG, she said, “I believe in the transformative power of America, and I know the transformative power of a good job. To all workers who are toiling in the shadows, to workers who are organizing for power and respect in the workplace, know that we see you.”
Before her sectary position, she was the staff attorney at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, which is now known as the Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California. As California labor commissioner from 2011- 2018, Su helped to enforce California’s labor laws to ensure a fair and just workplace for both employees and employers. At the age of 26, Su was the lead attorney of the El Monte Thai Garment Slavery Case 1995 case, which helped recover more than $4 million in wages stolen from trafficked Thai garment workers in a Los Angeles County sweatshop. After petitioning for the workers to be able to stay in the United States under a visa program, there was the creation of the T-Visa for victims of human trafficking.
During her work with immigrant workers, she realized that many of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) immigrants have been exploited for their labor and had unfair treatment, despite having many of the country’s labor laws still being able to apply to them, regardless of their immigration status. Some companies even illegally weaponize immigration status. From the days of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Asians in the U.S. have long faced exploitation and discrimination.
During Jerry Brown’s time as governor, Su was head of California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement as the California Labor Commissioner. Fast forward to Governor Gavin Newsom’s tenure, Su served as Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Many Asian Lawmakers pushed to nominate Su for the secretary of labor in 2021; however, she was nominated to serve as deputy labor secretary instead in July of 2021.
On March 11, 2023, Julie was appointed as acting Secretary of Labor and is the only Asian American in the Secretary position as the other two Asian Americans hold trade representation positions. In fact, according to Su’s letter to Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Senate Republican Leader McConnell to try to confirm herself as secretary of labor, she says that AAPI members make up just 0.9% of elected leaders across all levels of government, despite representing 6.1% of the population. President Biden describes Julie as “The American Dream.” Following her role in helping to pass a bill that helped avert a national rail shutdown late last year that could have caused devastating effects on the economy and also helped to ensure fair wages for workers in sectors such as semiconductor manufacturing, broadband, and health care.
She aims to continue to help immigrants who are exploited for their labor by employers who manipulate and trick immigrants into believing that they do not have rights. When asked about her future in the nomination, Su says, “President Biden called me the American dream. And I know that he is not just talking about me, he’s talking about our entire community.”