By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has been named executive director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) and will step down from his Cabinet position, the union and the Labor Department said on Thursday.
Walsh, 55, who had been expected to step down from his labor secretary role, will assume his new position in mid-March, the NHLPA said in a statement.
Walsh was recommended for the job after a nine-month search by a player-led committee, the union said.
“I look forward to working with players and the NHLPA staff to make the NHLPA the best and most effective team we can be to advance and protect the interests of our players and their families,” Walsh said in the statement.
Walsh, a former Democratic Boston mayor and labor union president, would be the first of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet secretaries to step down since the Democrat took office in January 2021 and comes after Biden recently shuffled his chief of staff and economic advisers.
The Labor Department confirmed that Walsh will step down.
As labor secretary, Walsh had vowed to boost union membership, a key issue for Biden.
The NHL players’ union represents 750 athletes, according to the organization.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; additional reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
