Trump Nominates Lori Chavez-DeRemer to Lead Labor Department
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WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 22 named Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor in his second administration, elevating a Republican congresswoman who has strong support from unions in her district but lost re-election in November.
Chavez-DeRemer will have to be confirmed by the Senate, which will be under Republican control when Trump takes office on Jan. 20 and can formally send nominations to Capitol Hill.
Chavez-DeRemer is a one-term congresswoman, having lost re-election in her competitive Oregon district earlier this month. But in her short stint on Capitol Hill she has established a clear record on workers’ rights and organized labor issues that belie the Republican Party’s usual alliances with business interests.
Trump
She supported the PRO Act, legislation that would make it easier to unionize on a federal level. The bill, one of Democratic President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, passed the House during Biden’s first two years in office, when Democrats controlled the chamber. But it never had a chance of attracting enough Republican senators to reach the 60 votes required to avoid a filibuster in the Senate.
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“We look forward to a thorough vetting and confirmation process for Lori Chavez-DeRemer,” American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear said in a statement, “particularly on her past positions in Congress on the PRO Act and independent contractors.
Spear
“These anti-trucking policies undermine our essential workforce, threaten the right of independent truckers to choose their own career path and impede the efficiency of the supply chain. The 8.5 million men and women who work in our industry are the heartbeat of the nation, and we reserve our support for Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination until we receive greater clarity from her on these issues that are so vital to our workforce.”
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Chavez-DeRemer also co-sponsored another piece of legislation that would protect public-sector workers from having their Social Security benefits docked because of government pension benefits. That proposal also has lingered for a lack of GOP support.
Chavez-DeRemer may give labor plenty to like, but union leaders are not necessarily cheering yet.
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The president-elect chose business-friendly appointees to the National Labor Relations Board during his 2017-21 term and generally has backed policies that would make it harder for workers to unionize. He criticized union bosses on the campaign trail and at one point suggested members of the United Auto Workers should not pay their dues.
His administration did expand overtime eligibility rules but not nearly as much as Democrats wanted, and a Trump-appointed judge has since struck down the Biden administration’s more generous overtime rules.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler praised Chavez-DeRemer’s “pro-labor record in Congress” but said “it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as secretary of labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda.”
Transport Topics contributed to this report.
