‘Moderate’ Republican is Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor

The old proverb “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king” seems relevant this month, when the U.S. Senate begins its confirmation hearings for hundreds of Trump nominations to his administration, including Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the former Oregon Congresswoman picked to serve as Secretary of Labor.

Defeated in her swing district in November, Chavez-DeRemer’s supporters point to her co-sponsorship of the labor-reforming PRO Act as a sign of relief, if not hope. But despite opposition from some Republicans and business lobbies, skeptics remain in and around the labor movement.

Chavez-DeRemer actually has backed two of labor’s top legislative priorities (both of which failed): The Protect The Right To Organize (PRO) Act, and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, plus voting for the Social Security Fairness Act, which will help government workers whose benefits had been limited for years. (It passed the House 327-75 in November, with dozens of Republican No votes, including Peoria U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood.)

The PRO Act passed the Democratic-run House in 2020 and 2021 but was killed by anti-union Senate Republicans threatening a filibuster. Even when Democrats gained a narrow Senate majority in 2020, conservative Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema opposed it, so Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) didn’t bring it up in the face of a GOP filibuster

The public service bill, the top legislative goal of AFSCME, would order state and local governments to bargain with unions that win recognition votes, even in so-called Right-To-Work states, effectively making the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus ruling that make unionizing difficult for public employees.

“Her record suggests real support of workers and their right to unionize,” said Teachers President Randy Weingarten. “I hope it means the Trump [administration] will actually respect collective bargaining and workers’ voices from Teamsters to teachers.”

In her only term in the House career, Chavez-DeRemer cultivated an image of a Republicans willing to work with Democrats. During one House Education and Workforce Committee meeting, she said, “Unions aren’t the

Don McIntosh, editor of Oregon’s Northwest Labor Press, commented, “Unlike most House Republicans, Chavez-DeRemer worked to build relationships with organized labor, but last year said she had concerns about the PRO Act.”

Plus, not being outright anti-union doesn’t ensure a pro-worker voice within a Trump administration.

“One thing to keep in mind is that the [cabinet] secretaries serve at the pleasure of the president,” said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute and a former Labor Department economist in the Obama administration.

“It is not an independent role,” she continued. “There’s a real, very clear restriction on how far they can go, away from what Trump and his key advisers want.”

Trump’s first term had a forceful anti-worker tone, weakening overtime protections and workplace safety standards, so if Trump is consistent, Chavez-DeRemer would have to implement his policies or face the consequences.

However, Chavez DeRemer could influence workers’ issues apart from the National Labor Relations Board (which is an independent agency). The Labor Department could address wage theft enforcement, safety inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, overtime pay thresholds, and immigration status protections, among other issues, according to the worker-oriented Economic Policy Institute.

“If Trump wants to prove that he is really on the side of American workers, he’s going to have to do more than one cabinet nomination,” commented Farah Stockman of the New York Times. “She embodies the contradiction that is the Trump coalition. It won political power with widespread support from blue-collar workers but has up until this point looked poised to hand the federal government over to business-friendly billionaires.”

The daughter of a Teamster, Chavez-DeRemer had some support from Oregon unions in her 2024 campaign, but several national unions refrained from backing her.

The AFL-CIO’s voting scores give Chavez-DeRemer a 10% lifetime score and the same score for the last year tracked. (The average Republican’s lifetime score is 6%.) Some of her votes were against the AFL-CIO’s positions, affecting her 10% rating. Chavez-DeRemer didn’t agree with labor’s position on companies’ health-care plans or jobless benefits, to name two.

Also, the previous year she declined to support the PRO Act, or other key measure.

“There’s the whole world of all of the other employment rights, minimum wage, overtime, [Equal Employment Opportunity] rights, paycheck equity, and paid leave,” said National Employment Law Project government affairs director Judy Conti, speaking to Vox.com. “And she hasn’t co-sponsored any of those bills.”

So, some observers see her co-sponsorship as symbolic or a campaign talking point.

In a prepared statement, the AFL-CIO said, “Donald Trump is the President-elect of the United States — not Rep. Chavez-DeRemer — and 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.”

Trump’s nomination of the 56-year-old businesswoman – who founded a network of medical clinics that’s reported annual revenues of millions of dollars – may be a slight acknowledgment that the U.S. public supports organized labor, or another way to attempt to convince working people the multi-millionaire is on the side of working people.

Even in Oregon, some unions were reluctant to endorse her and have a wait-and-see attitude.

“SEIU in Oregon has had very little experience working with Ms. Chavez-DeRemer since she has declined to engage directly with our 85,000 members,” said Alan Dubinsky, communications director for SEIU Local 49. “If she is successful in her appointment to Secretary of Labor, we look forward to her keeping her campaign promises of supporting Oregon’s unions and working families.”

As for business, some of its prominent lobbies seem to be against even a mild moderate, as shown by misgivings of the nomination expressed by the National Right To Work Committee, the anti-union Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and similar groups, and “her selection is also fueling tension among more traditional Republicans with long-standing ties to business trade groups,” report Lori Aratani and Lauren Kaori Gurley in the Washington Post.

For now, then, organized labor seems to accept Trump’s gesture but expect little, reminiscent of another old saying: “It’s better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stock.”