President-elect Donald Trump’s choose for labor secretary, Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR), is a pro-union Republican, however that doesn’t essentially imply Trump’s administration can be pro-worker.
Though Cupboard secretaries can do their finest to affect the commander-in-chief, they in the end need to execute on the president’s insurance policies, a number of labor consultants informed Vox. In the event that they disagree with the president — particularly in the event that they refuse to implement a brand new coverage — there’s a excessive chance that they’d be faraway from that place.
Given Trump’s notorious lack of curiosity in particulars, he could give Chavez-DeRemer latitude with the each day duties of the company. Which means Chavez-DeRemer might shift the company in a extra pro-worker course within the common operations she’ll oversee. Any main rule adjustments, nonetheless, are prone to want the backing of the president.
Because of this, it’s not evident that having a labor secretary extra supportive of unions will translate to concrete protections in favor of employees if Trump himself isn’t on board. In its first time period, the Trump administration took a decidedly anti-worker stance, undoing office security laws and curbing time beyond regulation protections. If the president-elect chooses to do the identical in his second time period, Chavez-DeRemer would have little recourse however to implement his insurance policies or face the implications.
“One factor to bear in mind is that the secretaries serve on the pleasure of the president. … It’s not an unbiased function,” says Heidi Shierholz, a former chief economist within the Labor Division in the course of the Obama administration and the president of the Financial Coverage Institute, a left-leaning assume tank. “There’s an actual, very clear restriction on how far they will go, away from what Trump and his key advisers need.”
Trump’s choose is extra pro-labor than he’s
Chavez-DeRemer, a first-term Congress member from a swing district in Oregon, misplaced a decent race for reelection in 2024.
She has a strong pro-worker file that differs notably from lots of the positions Trump has beforehand backed. Chavez-DeRemer is considered one of simply 5 Home Republicans who supported the Defending the Proper to Arrange Act, a invoice that will broaden employees’ capacity to unionize that Trump’s White Home advisers really useful he veto. She additionally backed the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, laws that shields public sector employees’ capacity to unionize, which conservatives have additionally chafed towards. And he or she voted towards a GOP effort to overturn a Biden administration labor rule associated to employees’ retirement financial savings, Bloomberg Regulation reviews.
“Unions aren’t the enemy of small companies, they’re a associate,” Chavez-DeRemer, who’s the daughter of a Teamsters union member, beforehand mentioned in a Home Schooling and the Workforce Committee assembly, acknowledging that she’s within the “minority” in her celebration. Throughout her 2024 Home race, Chavez-DeRemer picked up the assist of greater than 20 native unions in her space, although her Democratic opponent garnered the backing of a few of the bigger nationwide ones.
“She’s acquired extra labor union endorsements than any Republican I’ve ever seen in my life,” Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) mentioned throughout a Chavez-DeRemer marketing campaign occasion in Oregon Metropolis.
Due to her observe file, Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination was closely cheered by Sean O’Brien, the pinnacle of the Teamsters, who’d reportedly urged Trump to decide on her for the function. “Thanks @realDonaldTrump for placing American employees first by nominating Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer for US Labor Secretary,” O’Brien mentioned in a put up on X. “You set phrases into motion.”
Whereas Chavez-DeRemer has been extra supportive of unions than most Republicans, her general file is nuanced: She was given a ten p.c score by the AFL-CIO for her 2023 Home votes, with the union dinging her on votes she took on insurance policies that might hurt recipients of unemployment insurance coverage and that will permit employers extra leeway within the forms of well being care plans they provide.
“There’s the entire world of all the different employment rights, minimal wage, time beyond regulation, [Equal Employment Opportunity] rights, paycheck fairness, and paid depart. And he or she hasn’t co-sponsored any of these payments,” Judy Conti, the federal government affairs director for the Nationwide Employment Regulation Undertaking, informed Vox.
Regardless of this, although, she nonetheless has marked variations from Trump.
”This file stands in stark distinction to Donald Trump’s anti-worker, anti-union file, and his excessive Undertaking 2025 agenda that will intestine office protections, make it more durable for employees to unionize, and diminish the voice of working individuals,” Nationwide Schooling Affiliation President Becky Pringle mentioned in a press release.
Throughout his first administration, Trump proposed a variety of anti-worker guidelines together with permitting servers’ administration to take extra of their suggestions and permitting corporations extra leeway for wage theft. He’s spoken about firing employees who’re on strike, a apply that’s typically unlawful, in favorable phrases. And he’s complained about how a lot he hated paying his personal workers time beyond regulation.
It’s not clear Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination will make a coverage distinction
Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination could not make a major coverage distinction if the president-elect chooses to pursue the identical forms of labor insurance policies he championed throughout his first time period.
As a result of the president has expansive affect over the insurance policies that businesses roll out, secretaries typically need to implement the foundations that they’re requested to, even when they disagree with them. As Politico has detailed, secretaries could be “marginalized” by the administrations they’re in, and even not often consulted for his or her recommendation.
“If a Cupboard secretary disagrees with an govt motion, they’ve decision-making autonomy, however they possible would face sturdy White Home strain to resign,” says Meena Bose, the dean of public coverage at Hofstra College.
If confirmed as a member of his Cupboard, Chavez-DeRemer would be capable of use her platform and place to attempt to affect Trump and elevate employees’ calls for. Whether or not she may be capable of institute concrete coverage adjustments, nonetheless, will possible rely upon Trump’s openness to such concepts.
The identical can be the case within the occasion of a strike. The labor secretary can play a function in mediating high-profile disputes, just like the dock employees’ strike in 2024 or the rail employees’ strike in 2022. Appearing Labor Secretary Judy Su was capable of interact in negotiations for the dock employees’ strike solely as a result of President Joe Biden allowed her to, nonetheless. Chavez-DeRemer might use her perch to advise Trump within the case of future strikes, however her involvement in ending them would rely upon whether or not he helps her being concerned.
If confirmed, Chavez-DeRemer might produce other technical methods to affect coverage. One such avenue could possibly be via the labor secretary’s oversight of the Workplace of Labor and Administration Requirements, which has been leveraged by Republican administrations prior to now to topic unions to extraordinary administrative scrutiny, says Conti. It’s doable Chavez-DeRemer might direct the workplace to not goal unions on this manner.
The Nationwide Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a separate entity from the Labor Division, will even play a serious function in establishing insurance policies for unions and organizing. So, Trump’s staffing for NLRB is also a notable think about shaping the administration’s strategy towards labor.
General, nonetheless, consultants informed Vox that Cupboard secretaries solely have a lot leeway to interrupt with their administration. Because of this, Trump’s resolution to pick out a extra pro-worker labor secretary could possibly be extra of a messaging maneuver than a substantive one.