Last updated on April 4, 2024
Zhane McCorvey and Cameron Adams
Staff Writers
Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor, Julie Su, visited Jackson, Miss., to host a lunch for workers and their representatives to discuss challenges and issues within their workspace on Feb. 14, 2024.
In recent years, the fate of the economy has been a pressing issue in multiple communities throughout the United States. With issues such as lack of proper pay and poor conditions in the workforce, the people of these communities are looking for a change.
One Fair Wage, in partnership with the City of Jackson, High Road Kitchens, and Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, hosted the discussion at Metropolitan Bar & Grill (M-Bar), a popular restaurant located in Jackson, Miss.
Secretary Su stated that M-Bar was the most fitting setting considering their elimination of sub-minimum wages for its staff members.
“We’re here at M-Bar because it is a restaurant that has made the decision to pay its workers well and eliminate subminimum wage for tipped workers,” Secretary Su stated. “Understanding that the best investment you can make is an investment in your people. And I see it here, right.”
Workers and business owners had the opportunity to bring up challenges they have faced in the Mississippi workforce and question some initiatives being undertaken by the Department of Labor.
Su began the conversation by discussing the HIRE Initiative, a program initiated in 2022.
The Hiring Initiative to Reimagine Equity (HIRE) is a multi-year collaborative effort that will engage a broad array of stakeholders to expand access to good jobs for workers from underrepresented communities and help address key hiring and recruiting challenges.
With the majority of African-American cities often being overlooked in terms of funding, this initiative directly impacts the community. This caused the Biden-Harris Administration to focus on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The Department of Labor organized three informational summits inviting HBCUs to learn more about the initiative.
Over 150 people, including 60 students, participated in these summits, fostering partnerships between the DOL and HBCUs to create career pathways and opportunities for students.
When asked about the goals and intentions behind this initiative, Senator Su referred to President Biden’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
“This starts from the top right so [President Biden] issued an executive order about the importance of HBCUs. You see this with the vice president. I think she’s a product of an HBCU,” stated Su. “We recognize that this is a moment in our country where we refuse to leave anyone behind.”
The Biden administration appointee spoke passionately about HBCUs playing a critical role in educating the workforce, ensuring opportunities for all communities, and creating pathways to secure middle-class jobs.
“14.8 million jobs have been created since the president came into office and we need the full talent of all of America’s communities to do those jobs,” Su stated. “And so HBCUs play a really critical role in that, because they are educating workers, not just workers in the future, but work of today.”
After addressing the newly made initiatives in place for the diversity of the workplace, Secretary Su then began to discuss the pressing issue at hand: minimum wage.
She stated that the role of the Department of Labor and the Biden administration is to enforce the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour.
Despite the enforced wage, Secretary Su expressed her and Biden’s disagreement with the current federal minimum.
“The President has called for an increase and now only Congress can decide whether to do that,” stated Su. “We think that you cannot have a secure economy if workers don’t have enough to survive.”
She also highlighted the crucial role of states and local governments in determining wages that align with the cost of living in their communities, underscoring the administration’s commitment to ensuring workers receive a decent wage.
“I think states and local governments who are very much closer to the reality of how far wage goes in their community, have played a leadership role in raising wages in states and cities that have higher than $7.25 an hour.”
Secretary Su’s visit has not only shed light on the initiatives of the Department of Labor but has also ignited a conversation that encourages everyone to actively participate in the discourse surrounding labor issues and social justice.
According to the Department of Labor website, Su became Acting Secretary of Labor on March 11, 2023. She was previously confirmed by the Senate to serve as the deputy secretary of labor on July 13, 2021. As deputy secretary, she served as the de-facto chief operating officer for the department, overseeing its workforce, managing its budget and executing the priorities of the secretary of labor.
Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Labor, Deputy Secretary Su served as the secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The LWDA enforces workplace laws, combats wage theft, ensures health and safety on the job, connects Californians to quality jobs and career pathways, and administers unemployment insurance, workers compensation and paid family leave.
Su is a nationally recognized expert on workers’ rights and civil rights who has dedicated her distinguished legal career to advancing justice on behalf of poor and disenfranchised communities and is a past recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.
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