The Century Foundation (TCF) today announced the hiring of renowned labor rights expert and advocate Julie Su, who served as acting U.S. Secretary of Labor from 2023 through the end of the Biden administration. Su will join TCF as a full-time senior fellow beginning April 2025, working on a range of issues focused on protecting labor rights, growing worker power, and advancing equity in the economy.
The hiring of Su is the latest in a series of hires TCF is making from within the highest ranks of the Biden administration, aimed at attracting top talent leaving the government who can fight back against the potential harms of the Trump administration’s education, health care, and economic policy agenda and chart a vision for progress going forward.
“There is no better champion for working people in America than Julie Su,” said Mark Zuckerman, TCF President and former deputy director of President Obama’s Domestic Policy Council. “Whether at the highest levels of government, in the courtroom, or on the picket line, Su’s record of fighting for workers and their dignity is unmatched. I’m thrilled she’s chosen to call TCF home in this next chapter and I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes.”
“I am incredibly proud of the work we did in the Biden-Harris administration to put workers first at every turn,” said Julie Su. “Unfortunately, much of that progress is newly under threat from an administration that has signaled it will prioritize billionaires over workers and corporations over unions. As I said throughout my time as acting Secretary of Labor, good jobs change lives. I’m looking forward to joining the TCF team and continuing to fight to defend workers and unions at this critical moment.”
During the Biden administration, Su served as acting U.S. Secretary of Labor for nearly two years starting in March 2023, and prior to that, was confirmed by the Senate as Deputy Secretary of Labor. At DOL, Su was instrumental to many of President Biden’s historic achievements for working people and organized labor, including passage and implementation of the infrastructure law, the resurgence of American manufacturing, new regulations to protect workers from silicon dust and heat, modernizing unemployment insurance, and securing more than $1 billion for victims of wage theft, among many other wins. During her tenure, public support for unions reached its highest point since 1965 and she helped secure landmark labor agreements for health care workers, flight attendants, autoworkers, longshoremen, and other unions.
Prior to the Biden administration, Su served as Secretary of Labor for California from 2019 to 2021 and as California Labor Commissioner from 2011 to 2018. In those roles, Su successfully took on employers who were cheating workers, built innovative training partnerships, and enacted record-setting workplace protections and labor law enforcement that gained the support from both workers and the business community and helped California become one of the best states for workers.
Su is a nationally recognized expert on workers’ rights and civil rights, dedicating her distinguished legal career to advancing justice on behalf of poor and disenfranchised communities. She is known for pioneering a multi-strategy approach that combines successful impact litigation with multiracial organizing, community education, policy reform, coalition building and media work. A daughter of immigrants and a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law, Su is a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” for her work on behalf of immigrant workers.
TCF Hires Julie Su, Former Acting U.S. Labor Secretary in the Biden Administration
The Century Foundation (TCF) today announced the hiring of renowned labor rights expert and advocate Julie Su, who served as acting U.S. Secretary of Labor from 2023 through the end of the Biden administration. Su will join TCF as a full-time senior fellow beginning April 2025, working on a range of issues focused on protecting labor rights, growing worker power, and advancing equity in the economy.
The hiring of Su is the latest in a series of hires TCF is making from within the highest ranks of the Biden administration, aimed at attracting top talent leaving the government who can fight back against the potential harms of the Trump administration’s education, health care, and economic policy agenda and chart a vision for progress going forward.
“There is no better champion for working people in America than Julie Su,” said Mark Zuckerman, TCF President and former deputy director of President Obama’s Domestic Policy Council. “Whether at the highest levels of government, in the courtroom, or on the picket line, Su’s record of fighting for workers and their dignity is unmatched. I’m thrilled she’s chosen to call TCF home in this next chapter and I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes.”
“I am incredibly proud of the work we did in the Biden-Harris administration to put workers first at every turn,” said Julie Su. “Unfortunately, much of that progress is newly under threat from an administration that has signaled it will prioritize billionaires over workers and corporations over unions. As I said throughout my time as acting Secretary of Labor, good jobs change lives. I’m looking forward to joining the TCF team and continuing to fight to defend workers and unions at this critical moment.”
During the Biden administration, Su served as acting U.S. Secretary of Labor for nearly two years starting in March 2023, and prior to that, was confirmed by the Senate as Deputy Secretary of Labor. At DOL, Su was instrumental to many of President Biden’s historic achievements for working people and organized labor, including passage and implementation of the infrastructure law, the resurgence of American manufacturing, new regulations to protect workers from silicon dust and heat, modernizing unemployment insurance, and securing more than $1 billion for victims of wage theft, among many other wins. During her tenure, public support for unions reached its highest point since 1965 and she helped secure landmark labor agreements for health care workers, flight attendants, autoworkers, longshoremen, and other unions.
Prior to the Biden administration, Su served as Secretary of Labor for California from 2019 to 2021 and as California Labor Commissioner from 2011 to 2018. In those roles, Su successfully took on employers who were cheating workers, built innovative training partnerships, and enacted record-setting workplace protections and labor law enforcement that gained the support from both workers and the business community and helped California become one of the best states for workers.
Su is a nationally recognized expert on workers’ rights and civil rights, dedicating her distinguished legal career to advancing justice on behalf of poor and disenfranchised communities. She is known for pioneering a multi-strategy approach that combines successful impact litigation with multiracial organizing, community education, policy reform, coalition building and media work. A daughter of immigrants and a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law, Su is a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” for her work on behalf of immigrant workers.