Los Angeles Times

Former California labor chief Julie Su’s bid to become President Biden’s Labor secretary is languishing, showing how hard it can be for a progressive Californian to win Senate confirmation in a deeply divided Washington.

Anyone who has ever been on a job hunt knows that it is often difficult to find out what a new position might pay.

There’s hardly a term that’s become more cringe-inducing, more empty of meaning than “essential workers.”

Nearly every day, the onetime Ontario warehouse employee said, he was stunned to hear racist slurs from Latino co-workers.

American labor leaders see this as a moment for radical change: Workers in Starbucks coffee shops and Amazonwarehouses are rising up and demanding representation.

“It’s become apparent nobody wants to work in these hard times.”

Last week, Spain signaled it may become one of a handful of countries offering workers a benefit called “menstrual leave” for people whose periods are accompanied by debilitating pain.

Elections in the U.S. have become so polarizing that California is considering treating poll workers with the same caution as domestic violence victims by letting them keep their addresses hidden from public records.

School may be in session, but the dearth of child care is still proving to be a major hurdle to women reentering the U.S. labor market.

He killed the people he wanted to kill.

Sen. Joe Manchin, widely regarded as a crucial swing vote in the narrowly Democratic Senate, moved a sweeping pro-union law one step closer to enactment Monday by declaring that he would become a co-sponsor.

The Biden administration on Wednesday nominated California Labor Secretary Julie A. Su to be deputy secretary of Labor to help shape the president’s jobs agenda and economic recovery effort.

President Biden on Wednesday nominated California Labor Secretary Julie A. Su as the second in command at the U.S. Department of Labor, even as she faces criticism from some in her home state for ongoing troubles at the Employment Development Department, which has delayed approving unemployment benefits while paying out billions of dollars on fraudulent claims.

Sweeping new laws ramping up in 2021 will force California businesses to offer employees more help to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, including measures on disclosure of workplace infections, on healthcare and wage replacement, and on job-protected leave to care for sick family members.

I’ve been struggling in recent days to come up with that one perfect example of how screwed up this nation’s priorities have become amid the worst public-health crisis most of us have ever — and hopefully will ever — experience.