President-elect Donald Trump made a surprising choice for secretary of labor on Friday: a Republican congresswoman who has supported major pro-union legislation in the past. Trump’s pick of Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, of Oregon, is in line with some of the GOP's recent rhetorical softening in its general hostility to organized labor. But other parts of the incoming administration have lined up behind many anti-labor policies, and it’s too early to tell if naming Chavez-DeRemer means anything more than projecting labor-friendly optics.
Though Chavez-DeRemer just lost her bid for re-election, she had the support of several Oregon unions. She has also supported two notable pro-union bills in Congress. As Politico reports, Chavez-DeRemer “was one of just three House Republicans to sponsor the Democratic-backed PRO Act this Congress, which would make it easier for employees to unionize, among other pro-labor provisions. She also co-sponsored legislation that would lower barriers for public safety workers to collectively bargain.”
There is good reason to be skeptical that Chavez-DeRemer represents a major turn on labor for the GOP.
In addition to local labor support in her congressional race, Politico also reports that Chavez-DeRemer had a powerful union backer for the Labor Department post. According to three people familiar with the conversations, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien backed her for labor secretary. One of the most powerful unions in America, the Teamsters declined to endorse either presidential candidate for the first time since 1996, even after President Joe Biden’s wins for organized labor included saving the Teamster’ ailing union pension plan with a huge infusion of federal funds. O’Brien posted on X that the pick of Chavez-DeRemer represents Trump putting “words into action.”
In recent years, a few Republicans have expressed cautiously pro-labor views. When Senate Democrats sent Amazon a letter criticizing its labor practices earlier this year, they wrangled three GOP signatories, including the vice president-elect, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. Another signatory, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, has called for “pro-labor conservatism.” The selection of Chavez-DeRemer raises the question of whether these Republicans may put at least a little bit of their money where their mouths are.
But while Chavez-DeRemer has supported some pro-union policies, she’s far from a leftist hiding in a Republican suit. The AFL-CIO gave Chavez-DeRemer a 10% score on her first (and only) term in Congress when assessing her voters “on issues important to working families.” She opposed bills that provided funding for Medicaid coverage and food assistance, and supported a bill that would have undermined unemployment insurance.
As the Economic Policy Institute’s Celine McNicholas points out, labor observers will want to see what positions she takes on policies such as overtime protections for workers or workplace safety inspections. During Trump’s first term, his administration robbed workers of automatic overtime protection and rolled back workplace safety inspections. He also pursued countless other policies that benefited the wealthy while eviscerating regulations and policies that improve the lives of ordinary workers.
There is good reason to be skeptical that Chavez-DeRemer represents a major turn on labor for the GOP. Chavez-DeRemer’s ideological outlook matters, but ultimately she’ll be taking cues from Trump. Trump is staffing up with authors of the radical right-wing policy agenda known as Project 2025. That alone is reason to think Chavez-DeRemer will be given anti-labor directives. The AFL-CIO said in a statement regarding the selection of Chavez-DeRemer, “You can stand with working people, or you can stand with Project 2025, but you can’t stand with both.”
Trump has allied whole-heartedly with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is the richest man in the world and a staunch union-buster and, according to CNN, is arguing in court that “a key federal labor agency, the National Labor Relations Board, was unconstitutional and shouldn’t be able to enforce findings against employers.” Those arguments have come after Biden’s appointees tipped the board’s power toward Democrats and workers, reversing the NLRB's systematic assault of workers’ rights to collective bargaining during Trump’s first term. The president-elect’s allies are exploring the unusual step of firing some of those board members.
Trump and MAGA politicians such as Vance have begun paying lip service to the idea that organized labor deserves some rhetorical support. But if they remain on the same anti-labor policy track that they always have been on — and I suspect for the most part they will — it’s best to understand it as a cynical plot to cleave the working class and drag them rightward. And the choice of Chavez-DeRemer may be part of the illusion.