Julie Su says she will fight for workers if she becomes labor secretary

March 1 (UPI) -- Julie Su, the Labor Department's deputy secretary, said she wants to continue to fight for the "forgotten and unseen" workers on Wednesday as President Joe Biden formally announced her as his nominee as the next labor secretary.

Su has been nominated to replace her boss, Marty Walsh, who is leaving the administration this month to become the executive director of the National Hockey League's player's union.

The Stanford and Harvard-educated Su had served as California's Labor and Workforce Development secretary before joining the Biden administration in 2021.

An attorney by trade, she is the daughter of Chinese immigrants whose mother was a union worker and whose father was a small business owner.

"Julie is the American dream," Biden said in a White House ceremony, where he also thanked Walsh for his service. "She is committed to making sure that dream is within reach of every American. That's what she's all about."

Su shared the story of her mother's arrival in the United States as an example of the country's "transformative power."

"Sixty years ago, my mom came to the United States on a cargo ship because she couldn't afford a passenger ticket. Recently she got a call from the United States of America telling her that her daughter was going to be nominated to be U.S. Labor Secretary. So, I believe in the transformative power of America and the transformative power of a good job."

She said the union job her mother held gave her family a path to the middle class with a steady paycheck and benefits.

"When you said you wanted to be the most pro-worker, pro-union president in history and restore decency and build the middle class, I said sign me up for that," Su told Biden during the ceremony. "I want to help do that. It's been my honor to be deputy secretary. Those shared values are what I will work to make real every day.

"I stand here today deeply grateful for the community. I look out and see today is a celebration of that community. When the president talks about those who have been forgotten or invisible, I know what he means because I've spent my career fighting for them to be seen."

Su's appointment must be approved by the Senate.