Dive Brief:
- President-elect Donald Trump on Friday evening named Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., as his nominee for secretary of labor. Chavez-DeRemer, who served one term in Congress, lost her recent re-election bid to Democrat Janelle Bynum.
- Trump said he looks forward to working with her to expand apprenticeships, grow wages and improve working conditions. But the nomination elicited policy questions publicly posed by trucking’s largest trade group.
- Teamsters President Sean O’Brien voiced support for Chavez-DeRemer, saying she previously pledged “to listen to workers and find common ground to protect and respect labor in America.”
Dive Insight:
Trucking industry groups hailed Trump’s victory and the president-elect’s nomination of former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy to serve as the nation’s top transportation official.
The American Trucking Associations is reserving its support for Chaves-DeRemer, however, until it gets greater clarity on her views on independent contractor law affecting the industry, President and CEO Chris Spear said Monday.
“We look forward to a thorough vetting and confirmation process for Lori Chavez-DeRemer, particularly on her past positions in Congress on the PRO Act and independent contractors,” Spear said in an emailed statement.
“These anti-trucking policies undermine our essential workforce, threaten the right of independent truckers to choose their own career path, and impede the efficiency of the supply chain,” he added.
Chavez-DeRemer is one of several latest cabinet picks by the president-elect, joining TV celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz (administrator for the U.S Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), WWE co-founder and former Small Business Association Administrator Linda McMahon (education secretary) and Fox Business host and former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wisc., (transportation secretary), among others.
Previously, G. Roger King, senior labor and employment counsel for HR Policy Association, told HR Dive Society for Human Resource Management President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor Jr. was in the running for the U.S. Department of Labor cabinet seat.
