NPR’s Dongonia talks about labor historian Harley Shaiken about how President Trump’s Labor Secretary Lori Chavez Deremar thinks about labor policy.
Don Gonia, host:
Former Congressman Lori Chavez Deremar is the choice of President Trump, who leads the Labor Bureau. And over the past week, during her confirmation hearing, she filed her lawsuit before Congress.
(Sound bites of archived recordings)
Lori Chavez-Deremer: In 2024, our country witnessed the greatest political achievements of our time. President Trump has united a new coalition of working-class Americans like never before.
Gonyea: Her nomination is worth noting. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Chavez Delemer co-hosted a bill that would protect the right to comply with organizational or professional laws. This was a bill that provided protection to workers trying to organize, and was a top priority for trade unions. However, her hearing raised questions about where she actually stood on the issue. She told the senators that she supports professional laws, but not when it contradicts individual states’ rights laws. Here she interacts with Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who is strongly opposed to professional law.
(Sound bites of archived recordings)
Chavez-Deremer: I fully support states who want to protect their rights to work. I told it to all the senators I visited.
Rand Paul: So, do you no longer support aspects of professional law that would have overturned state rights law?
Chavez Deremar: Yes. There were so many parts,
Paul: Is that yes?
Chavez-Deremer: Yes. There – Yes, teacher.
Paul: No more questions.
Gonyea: Her appointment comes at an interesting time. Thousands of federal workers have been fired, as President Trump has publicly declared to represent the interests of working Americans. At the Capitol Hill Rally, which protested these layoffs earlier this month, Democrat Brendan Boyle denounced Republicans of hypocrisy.
(Sound bites of archived recordings)
Brendan Boyle: You know, election times in my area and elsewhere, when you hear certain Republican members talking on TV, you know, I’m very It’s bipartisan. I am not anti-labor. I love working.
The person with UNIDENTIFIED: Yes.
Boyle: Some of my best friends are union members.
The UNIDENTIFIED guy: Ah.
Boyle: Here’s the opportunity for them to show it. Stand up for the men and women who work in this country.
Gonyea: We are now joining us to talk with the candidate for the Secretary of Labor and what this pick signales us about President Trump’s priorities. Harley, thank you for coming here.
Harley Shaiken: It’s so good to be here.
Gonyea: Can I do citizen 101 to start? Please explain in a brief way what the role of the Labor Department is.
Shaiken: Well, the Labor Bureau does a lot. Protect your wages and time. It examines other areas that affect working Americans and also generates voice within the administration for workers.
Gonyea: Lori Chavez-Deremer has not yet worked as a labor secretary. Confirmation votes in the Senate should come soon. But her rhetoric, and even her background and time as mayor and one-sided member of the Council, she has a reputation as a Republican Republican and Proraball. How do you characterize her views on labor?
Shaiken: Well, I think there are really two Loli Chavez Deremars. One is who you just described as a medium Republican in the swing district. She came out strongly for the two laws you mentioned, professional laws, and similar laws that extend the right to organise to public workers who don’t have it today. support. She lost just a little last November. However, the second Lori Chavez-Deremer was the person he heard at the confirmation hearing. This is someone who appears to be channeling President Trump, and not only does she serve the president’s joy, but also the ministerial candidates do, but in many areas, all of his labor agenda He is someone who says he adheres to aspects. It is extremely important to labor and will likely be.
Gonyea: The Secretary of Labor is a cabinet-level position, but there are other government agencies that probably play an even bigger role in establishing workers’ rights, union rights, and what happens in a particular workplace. . That is the National Labor Relations Commission. It is called the NLRB. There are commissioners appointed by the president. And depending on the political structure of the committee, it can support or undermine the Labour Bureau’s policies. Is that a fair way to put it?
Shaiken: That’s a very accurate way. And there are always changes that have changed, but President Trump is the first to destroy the board, making sure it no longer has a quorum.
Gonyea: We have five members. Quarum requires three. There are currently two vacancies due to two fires by President Trump. is that so?
Shaiken: That’s correct.
Gonyea: So, if you have an NLRB without quorum, what does that mean?
Shaiken: I can’t do anything. Until that quorum is restored, something cannot be enacted or reviewed in a decisive way. And President Trump did that with the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee. He basically fired enough members of that committee to ensure there was no quorum, so it can’t affect workers either.
Gonyea: What do you say to people who say that the president has been elected and that he was more powerful than regular elected for Republican support from unions and workers?
Shaiken: Well, the president was elected based on doing things for the people who work and increasing workers’ salaries in terms of safer, functioning economy. He is not going to offer it given the direction he is currently moving. A preview of Trump’s labor policy looks at how he is dismantling the huge chunks of the federal government. That’s not a difference. It pretends to be efficient. We remove corruption and bloating. However, there are human lives at risk for extremely talented individuals, and have dedicated their lives to public services. If that’s a preview of a broader labor policy, we’re on a rough ride.
Gonyea: In your view, it’s hard to see this Labor Secretary being pushed back so hard against it.
Shaiken: I think it’s very difficult to see. She is in a very unacceptable position given the Trump administration’s previous policies regarding unions, but we see what happens.
Gonyea: We’ve been talking to labor economist Harley Shaiken. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. Thank you, Harley.
Shaiken: Thank you.
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