Trump Picks Union Supporter for Secretary of Labor

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Friday his intent to nominate Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Oregon, as Secretary of Labor, along with his plan to nominate hedge fund manager and billionaire Scott Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury. Both will require Senate confirmation.

As a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Chavez-DeRemer was one of the few Republicans to sponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize. Chavez-DeRemer lost her bid for reelection earlier in November to Democrat Janelle Bynum.

“I am proud to hereby nominate Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, from the Great State of Oregon, as United States Secretary of Labor,” Trump wrote on social media. “Lori has worked tirelessly with both Business and Labor to build America’s workforce, and support the hardworking men and women of America. I look forward to working with her to create tremendous opportunity for American Workers, to expand Training and Apprenticeships, to grow wages and improve working conditions, to bring back our Manufacturing jobs.”

In response to the announcement, the National Education Association, the country’s largest professional employee organization, championed Chavez-DeRemer’s selection while also criticizing Trump’s policies.

Chavez-DeRemer’s record “stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s anti-worker, anti-union record, and his extreme Project 2025 agenda that would gut workplace protections, make it harder for workers to unionize, and diminish the voice of working people,” wrote NEA President Becky Pringle in a statement.

Pringle added that educators and workers will be watching to see how Chavez-DeRemer moves through the nomination process and whether she will pledge to “continue to stand up for workers and students as her record suggests, not blind loyalty to the Project 2025 agenda.”

Retirement industry players, meanwhile, will be watching to see how, if approved for the role, Chavez-DeRemer will address pending DOL issues, including further work on the SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022, the Retirement Security Rule and guidance on environmental, social and governance investing in defined contribution retirement plans.

Trump’s Treasury nominee, Bessent, is founder and CEO of Key Square Group LP, which he founded in 2015. He has been a public proponent of Trump’s tariff and tax-cutting policy agendas.

“Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” Trump wrote on social media in announcing his intent to nominate Bessent.