from Matt Larkin of The Daily Faceoff,
As he put affectionally put it, two lifelong passions merged for former U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh Thursday as he held his first press conference since being named executive director of the NHL Players’ Association in February.
The first passion: unionism through and through, something he was born into growing up in Boston as the son of Irish immigrants, sitting at the dinner table learning from his father, a laborer, about the importance of representation. He carried that mentality with him into his political career. And even when he was criticized for being “too close” to organized labor, he explained Thursday, “I wore my unionism with a badge of honor.”
Walsh, 55, was mayor of Boston from 2014 through 2021 and left his position to join U.S. President Joe Biden’s cabinet as Labor Secretary in 2021. Under Biden, Walsh oversaw regulations to protect the rights of more than 150 million workers nationwide. He had previously been president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America and was head of the Building Construction and Trades Council in Boston.
from the CP at TSN,
What Id like to do is lets establish the World Cup hockey back and lets have a forward-looking schedule to see, so people can be consistent it. Fans love it. Players love it. Its important for us to do it.
What else is important to players? Walsh, who left the Biden Administration midway to lead hockey's players union, said he's spending his first several weeks on the job meeting with them to gather that information.
Just from talking to the 10 members of the search committee who ultimately chose him over more inside-hockey candidates, Walsh said players deserve a leader that knows who they are and knows their families.
Making note of personal interactions was a common theme of Walsh's first public comments since accepting the position to succeed Don Fehr.
Walsh, 55, acknowledged he's a different type of leader than his predecessors, which may be what the union needs at this interesting juncture with revenues at a record level and players hoping to capitalize on the growing market.
Collective bargaining negotiations are still a ways away with the current agreement in place through 2026, but Walsh has already opened a dialogue with Commissioner Gary Bettman.
Walsh said they met for about a half-hour in New York and Bettman brought up the topic of what it would take for the salary cap to go up more than $1 million this offseason.
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