Pro-labor Congresswoman to lead DOL

Published: November 26, 2024 | Robert S. Teachout, SHRM-SCP, Legal Editor at Brightmine

A one-term Republican congresswoman may be the next Secretary of the US Department of Labor (DOL), after being nominated for the position by President-elect Donald Trump.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., lost her re-election bid earlier this month, after serving only one term. She was one of only three Republicans to sponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), for which she gained Teamsters President Sean O’Brien’s endorsement and support as DOL Secretary. The proposed union-backed PRO Act would significantly rewrite federal labor law and make it much harder for businesses to oppose union organizing.

Chavez-DeRemer also supported the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, a bill that would have made it easier for public sector workers to organize in states that make it difficult.

“I’d be honored to have the opportunity to support President Trump’s mission to empower and grow our nation’s workforce,” Chavez-DeRemer told Fox News. “Hardworking Americans finally have a lifeline with the president, and I’d work tirelessly to support his impressive efforts to remake the Republican Party into the Party of the American worker.”

Her nomination has been broadly welcomed by unions. In addition to O’Brien’s support, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said on X (formerly Twitter), “It is significant that the President-elect nominated Rep. Chavez-DeRemer for Labor. Her record suggests real support of workers and their right to unionize. I hope it means the Trump [administration] will actually respect collective bargaining and workers’ voices from Teamsters to teachers.”

Opposed by business groups

However, Chavez-DeRemer’s support for the PRO-Act and other union-friendly positions is a red flag for business groups, which strongly oppose the bill and the Biden administration’s pro-labor agenda. They have already begun to stake out positions opposing Chavez-DeRemer.

“A Secretary of Labor should work to protect workers and employers’ rights and promote economic growth. Chavez-DeRemer’s support of the PRO Act raises legitimate concerns about her possible nomination,” Kristen Swearingen, chair of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a pro-business organization that represents hundreds of business groups, said in a statement issued prior to Trump’s nomination announcement. “We hope President-Elect Trump gives careful consideration to her past support of this anti-worker, anti-business legislation as he evaluates her candidacy.”

Sean Higgins, a labor policy research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (a nonprofit libertarian policy institute that advocates of regulatory reform) was even more blunt. “Chavez-DeRemer has no obvious qualifications for the role and her support for the ill-named Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act suggests she has a dim understanding of labor issues. The president should look elsewhere for his pick,” Higgins said.

Pro-union moves not entirely unexpected

Despite the general surprise of Trump’s choice, there were signs of the possibility of a pro-union appointment. Although his first term was marked by typically pro-business positions and appointments to the DOL and National Labor Relations Board, during this year’s campaign, Trump expended considerable to make inroads with workers and organized labor. Teamsters President O’Brien even spoke at the Republican convention when Trump was nominated, although the union declined to endorse either candidate.

Speaking on a panel at the SHRM Workplace Law Forum about the expected agenda and policy shifts of the incoming administration, former Rep. Toby Moffett, D-Conn. and former Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn., both now partners at Mercury, a Washington, DC lobbying firm, noted the shift in Trump’s approach to unions. While the influence of some of the large service and government employee unions will decrease, Weber asserted that Trump does care about winning over other unions, particularly in the trades.