AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement on the Senate vote to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer as secretary of labor:
The AFL-CIO is encouraged by Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation as labor secretary, given her history of supporting the freedom of workers to organize, join unions and other fundamental values of the labor movement. However, we remain clear-eyed that she’s joining an administration that’s been openly hostile to working people on many fronts in its first two months.
While in Congress, Chavez-DeRemer co-sponsored the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, critically important legislation that would give workers a fair shot at joining a union and negotiating a better deal at work. She also worked with a number of unions on issues critical to their members, like supporting registered apprenticeships to create a skilled worker pipeline for construction jobs and introducing legislation to expand access to and increase student loans for airline pilot training programs. We were disappointed to hear her criticize some of the PRO Act’s provisions at her confirmation hearing, but we remain hopeful that the values that guided her support of workers during her congressional term will also guide her at the helm of the Department of Labor (DOL).
Taking over the DOL in this administration is no easy task. Whether she is successful or not will depend on whether she uses her influence to be an effective voice for workers in a sea of Project 2025 appointees who are attempting to dismantle critical worker protections and priorities. We hope so, and the labor movement is committed to working closely with her to keep workers’ needs in focus. More than ever, working people need someone at the Labor Department who will stand up to corporate bosses and billionaires and do what’s right.
As she assumes duties as head of DOL, we urge Chavez-DeRemer to use her position in the Trump Cabinet to advocate forcefully for working people who depend on the Department of Labor to vigorously defend our wages, health and safety, and freedom to join a union. We also urge her to stop the DOGE purge of DOL employees who uphold our nation’s federal labor laws, protect working people’s sensitive private information, and push back on any attempts by the Project 2025 agenda to gut the rules that protect working people on the job. Offices like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Mine Safety and Health Administration, and Wage and Hour Division, to name a few, are critically understaffed. We urge her to increase funding and staffing for these critical enforcement agencies whose sole purpose is to protect workers on the job. The labor movement looks forward to working with Chavez-DeRemer to ensure she’s a voice of reason within this administration.
Contact: Steve Smith, 202-637-5018