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U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is expected to leave the Biden administration to run the National Hockey League Players Association, according to two people familiar with the plan, and other media reports.
The hockey players union has been looking for a new executive director to take over for Don Fehr. An association spokesman did not have an official update on the situation when reached Tuesday.
CBC Sports has not independently confirmed the report.
A serious Boston Bruins fan, Walsh, 55, showed off his encyclopedic knowledge of the sport in a video posted online during his tenure from 2014 to 2021 as Boston’s mayor.
The NHLPA began its search for Fehr’s successor in late April, naming a seven-player search committee and hiring a firm to help.
Fehr, best known for his long career with the Major League Baseball Players Association, began working for the hockey union in December 2010 and served as its executive director since 2011, overseeing two collective bargaining negotiations.
Walsh figures to take over at the time of most of the NHL’s profits with three years remaining until the next round of CBA negotiations.
“I’ve met Marty a few times when he was Mayor of Boston, but I have nothing to add,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said.
“I will not comment on who can be the next executive director. It is inappropriate, and if I go far enough, it could violate federal labor laws. I respect what the players are doing. They will conduct a process for a new executive director who appropriate, and whomever will work with.
Temporary employment agreement
As labor secretary, Walsh helped broker a temporary labor agreement between major freight railroads and unions, averting the risk of a strike that could disrupt the U.S. economy ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Congress later imposed a contract on the union after workers failed to ratify the agreement.
Administration officials said Tuesday that Walsh is expected to leave his post after President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, as did another person familiar with Walsh’s plans, who stressed that the plan has not been finalized. The two spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss their departure plans.
Walsh’s move would make him the first Biden Cabinet secretary to leave. White House chief of staff Ron Klain had his last day at the White House on Wednesday. And last week, Biden announced the departure of Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council.
Incoming chief of staff Jeff Zients has spent the past few months preparing the administration for potential staff turnover as Biden hits the two-year mark in office. After two years of unusual stability in the staff ranks, White House officials have telegraphed that additional changes will occur in the coming months as burned-out staffers seek new opportunities and are replaced by ones with fresh energy — and as Biden prepares to launched. re-election campaign in the coming months.
Biden noted in his January speech to the mayor that Walsh was making sure government construction jobs paid a fair wage and that apprenticeship programs gave blue-collar workers the skills they needed.
Walsh moved into politics after rising through the ranks of the trade union. At age 21, he joined Labor Local 223 and eventually became its president. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1997 and remained in the legislature until he was elected mayor. He was also formerly head of the Boston Building Trades union.
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