Marty Walsh, Former Union Leader, Confirmed as Labor Secretary

In a 68–29 vote on Monday, the Senate confirmed Marty Walsh, who was serving his second term as mayor of Boston, as the U.S. Secretary of Labor. Walsh was sworn in on March 23. He is the first union member to serve as Labor secretary since the 1970s.

Walsh was first elected as Boston’s mayor in 2013 and won reelection in 2017. Before serving as mayor, Walsh was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1997 through 2014. A member of the Laborers’ Union Local 223, Walsh served as the union’s president and as secretary-treasurer, general agent, and ultimately head of the Boston Metropolitan District Building Trades Council, an umbrella group of local construction unions. He resigned from his union leadership positions prior to his first mayoral campaign in 2013.

More information about Walsh’s work and achievements can be found on the U.S. Department of Labor and City of Boston websites.