President-elect Trump has nominated Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R) to head the Labor Department. This is a bad pick, supported by the left-wing teachers unions that are a pillar of the Democratic Party. “Teacher’s Unions already releasing statements celebrating this pick, emphasizing her awful record on issues like school choice and worker’s rights,” reports A.G. Hamilton. Such as “AFT President Randi Weingarten, the person many would argue was most responsible for keeping schools closed during Covid, cheering on this pick.” It was Sean O’Brien of the Teamsters Union “who sold Trump on this pick” — it was his union that remained neutral in the 2024 election, rather than endorsing the Democrats the way it usually does (so Trump may have picked Chavez-DeRemer as a favor to O’Brien).
Chavez-DeRemer has a bad stance on labor issues, nearly as bad as Biden’s current Labor Secretary, Julie Su: “She was one of only 3 house Republicans to support the PRO Act, which could have overturned right to work laws in a majority of states.”
Although Chavez-DeRemer is Hispanic and pro-union, it is unlikely that nominating her will do much to increase support for Trump among Hispanics or union members. A conservative Hispanic says, “Trump nominating Lori Chavez–DeRemer for Secretary of Labor is absolutely insane. 
Teacher’s unions love her Free market advocates hate her Elon Musk opposes her Independent workers hate her She will FORCE [some people to pay dues to] unions. Trump sold us out to repay union chief” Sean O’Brien.
She will probably be confirmed by the Senate, since the 47 Democrats will probably vote to confirm her, and only a few Republican Senators would need to vote with them to give her a majority of the votes cast.
How much harm can she do as Labor Secretary? That’s not clear. Trump’s Office of Management and Budget may wield a veto over some of what Chavez DeRemer does as Labor Secretary (such as if Chavez-DeRemer tries to make freelance work more difficult the way the PRO Act would). But such a veto would only limit the formal regulations the Labor Department can issue, not the flood of informal regulations and interpretive guidelines it and other government agencies issue, which can result in more red tape, compliance costs, and wasted time and money for citizens or regulated entities. And OMB won’t be able to force her to get rid of the bad rules and regulations Biden’s current Labor Secretary, Julie Su, has already issued. That damage will likely remain.
Trump could fire Chavez-DeRemer at any time if she does something left-wing, but who knows if he would actually do that. Maybe the mere possibility of him doing that will keep her from doing anything crazy or unreasonable. Or maybe it won’t. Who knows what backroom deals Trump has reached with the head of the Teamsters Union, or what progressive labor policies Trump has agreed to behind closed doors.
Trump didn’t need to appoint Chavez-DeRemer to get union votes — union members who voted for Trump said they did so because of the Democrats’ leftism on social issues and things like inflation, and those members didn’t much care about issues prioritized by union leaders, like the PRO Act. The PRO Act makes it easier for unions to expand, but it does little for rank-and-file workers, who often don’t benefit from unionization (they end up paying union dues, but not getting meaningful wage increases), and doesn’t benefit states where such increases in unionization occur — states with right-to-work laws that reduce unionization have better economic-growth rates, lower tax rates, and better improvements in standard of living than states that favor unionization. Right-to-work states have double the job growth of non-right-to-work states.
