President Joe Biden has staked the early weeks of his administration on a push to help people devastated by the recent economic downturn — especially workers. He has bolstered protections for workers who risk exposure to COVID-19 and advocated speedy passage of a $1.9 trillion dollar stimulus package, which includes expanded unemployment benefits and a minimum wage hike.

The administration’s effort faced another key test on Thursday with the kickoff of confirmation hearings for Labor Secretary nominee Marty Walsh, the Democratic mayor of Boston and former head of the Boston Building Trades Council, who would become the first union leader to serve in the position in nearly 45 years.

In a wide-ranging Senate committee session that lasted slightly over two hours, Walsh vowed support for the Biden administration’s proposed nationwide $15 minimum wage, and advocated new worker safety regulations as well as additional inspectors to enforce the heightened standards.

“I believe we must act with urgency to meet this moment with determination to empower our workforce and rebuild,” he told the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. But he struck a balanced message, pledging to “work in partnership with workers and businesses.”

If confirmed, Walsh will make for a dramatic shift from his predecessor Eugene Scalia, the son of the late conservative Supreme Court justice, Antonin Scalia. Eugene Scalia, a partner at white-shoe law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, spent his time at the Labor Department weakening employee protections — so much that a New Yorker profile described him as a “wrecking ball aimed at workers.”

Walsh, on the other hand, would aggressively interpret and enforce labor laws in a manner that expands worker rights, labor allies say. That would include reversing rules written by the Trump administration that make it difficult for gig workers to gain classification as full-fledged employees and the benefits that go with it. Plus, he’ll use the position's platform and his longstanding friendship with Biden as a powerful advocate for workers, union leaders say.

But conservative and pro-business groups warn that Walsh’s support for union organizing and workplace regulations could hinder the economic recovery, especially as many small businesses stand on the brink of closure. Some critics also cite his ties to organized labor as a potential conflict of interest that could compromise his ability to fulfill responsibilities of the department, such as investigating union impropriety.

“Biden is a union guy, a blue-collar guy top to bottom,” says Richard Trumka, the president of the nation’s largest union federation AFL-CIO, which represents 55 unions and 12.5 million workers nationwide. “He chose a blue-collar guy as Secretary of Labor. That dynamic duo will help workers get a fair shake in this country.”

‘Things that sound routine and boring have become hyper-politicized’

The Department of Labor oversees a host of agencies that interpret and enforce standards around workplace safety, compensation, and benefits; as well as the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles and releases labor-related figures such as the monthly jobs report.

Despite its seemingly mundane responsibilities, the departments plays a central role in determining the contours of the American workplace, in part because the U.S. hasn’t enacted major labor legislation since the 1930s and ‘40s.

“These things that sound routine and boring have become hyper-politicized,” says Nelson Lichtenstein, a professor of labor studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and author of “State of the Union: A Century of American Labor.”

Nuts-and-bolts issues like worker classification are “absolutely critical things today — they’re at the center of labor politics,” he says.

The nomination of Walsh arrives at a fraught moment for U.S. workers, who face heightened unemployment and years of sluggish wage growth. Meanwhile, unions represent barely 10% of workers — and a paltry 6.3% of private sector workers — even as Gallup polls show unions enjoy favorability not seen for nearly two decades.

Nascent organizing drives at Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) offer hope for unions largely shut out from the fast-growing tech sector, but labor organizations face an ongoing fight over classification of gig workers that could prevent the workers from gaining access to benefits or joining a traditional union.

As labor secretary, Walsh will likely push for worker protections through public appeals and under-the-radar rules changes.

“The job is more than a bully pulpit,” says Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.7 million members, who supports Walsh’s nomination. “It’s nesting worker power in the strategy of economic recovery and vitality in the United States.”

‘He understands workers’

Walsh, who has served as mayor of Boston since 2014, boasts a relationship with organized labor that dates back to when he joined the Laborers' Union Local 223 at age 21. Over the ensuing years, he rose through the ranks to become secretary-treasurer and general agent of the Boston Metropolitan District Building Trades Council.

In 2011, he took over as head of the union, but stepped down two years later when he ran for mayor. Despite a clash with teachers unions last year over a return to in-person instruction amid COVID-19, Walsh has built a reputation as an effective city manager committed to protecting workers on the job.

Many of the country’s top labor leaders have lauded his ties to the union movement, while other observers have noted his roots in a historically moderate and predominantly white part of the labor movement.

Lichtenstein says it’s “symbolically significant” that Walsh comes from a labor background, but adds: “A white, Irish building trades guy — it’s almost an anachronism. It’s almost something conjured up out of the mythic past.”

On the other hand, some critics on the right argue that his relationships with worker organizations could bias his policy decisions.

“His career has been essentially as a union boss,” says Rachel Greszler, a labor research fellow at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation. “Unions are in the business of buying power and influence.”

“Going forward he would need to recuse himself from many things dealing with the unions he’s directly worked for, and there could be conflicts of interest more generally coming from a unionized background.”

Trumka, of the AFL-CIO, called that line of criticism “the most laughable argument I’ve heard.”

“Because this guy carried the tools somehow that could be a conflict because he understands workers?” Trumka adds, noting the Trump administration appointment of Scalia, who had previously worked as an attorney hired by employers to defeat allegations of labor law violations.

“They confirmed under Trump a secretary who was a union buster,” Trumka says. “They didn’t think that was a conflict.”

‘You can’t fix COVID-19 until you protect workers’

The Labor Department under the Biden administration faces crucial issues, such as COVID-19 related workplace safety risks and worker classification for gig company employees.

In the final days of the Trump administration, the Labor Department finalized rules that would lead to the classification of gig workers as contractors, giving them flexible hours but leaving them without access to employer-provided health care and other benefits. The move followed the passage in California last November of Prop 22, which exempted app-based drivers for companies like Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) from a state labor law that establishes a broad standard allowing many full-time gig workers to classify as traditional employees.

“We’ve seen a rise in independent work — freelancers and contractors — and I think that’s been a great thing that’s opened opportunities for people who didn’t want a 9-to-5 job,” Greszler says.

But Walsh is expected to reverse the rules put in place by the department under Trump.

“The Labor Department head will play a big role on this,” Lichtenstein says. “I think Walsh will push back against it.”

Similarly, the agency will likely take imminent action on workplace protections amid COVID-19. On his first full day in office, Biden signed an executive order that set the stage for updated, albeit non-mandatory guidance for how employers should protect their workers from the virus.

But during the campaign, Biden vowed to go further, saying he would support the issuance of an emergency temporary standard, which would delineate health and safety actions that companies are required to take. Walsh could move ahead on such a standard in the coming weeks.

“You can’t fix the economy until we overtake and beat COVID-19,” Trumka says. “You can’t fix COVID-19 until you protect workers.”

Max Zahn is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Find him on twitter @MaxZahn_.

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