工会领导人对特朗普的劳工部长人选持谨慎乐观态度
【中美创新时报2024 年 12 月 14 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）当特朗普提名一位支持自罗斯福时代以来最全面的亲劳工法案并在最终失败的连任竞选中吹嘘工会支持的国会女议员担任他的第二任期劳工部长时，这引发了工会领导人及其国会山盟友对当选总统的陌生感觉。《波士顿环球报》记者Sam Brodey 对此作了下述报道。
在担任总统的第一任期内，唐纳德·特朗普的三位劳工部长人选是一位快餐首席执行官和两位保守派律师，工会组织认为这些人都是大企业的盟友，对他们的利益怀有深切的敌意。
因此，当特朗普提名一位支持自罗斯福时代以来最全面的亲劳工法案并在最终失败的连任竞选中吹嘘工会支持的国会女议员担任他的第二任期劳工部长时，这引发了工会领导人及其国会山盟友对当选总统的陌生感觉。
希望。
对于特朗普挑选的俄勒冈州众议员洛里·查韦斯-德雷默（Lori Chavez-DeRemer），人们的乐观程度可能有所不同，也可能带有警告，这取决于个人。但工会盟友普遍感到欣慰，因为经过数十年的对抗，工会终于在共和党政府中找到了盟友。
“我非常受鼓舞，”总部位于波士顿的国际消防员协会 718 分会主席山姆·狄龙说。“到目前为止，特朗普政府似乎第二次采取了更为有利和支持劳工的态度。”
查韦斯-德雷默于 2022 年当选为俄勒冈州摇摆选区的众议院议员，她是三位共和党议员之一，几乎与所有众议院民主党人一起支持《保护劳工组织法案》，该法案将大大加强工会组织和集体谈判的能力。她也是八位共和党议员之一，他们支持立法，以确认公共部门工人组建工会和组织的能力。
2023 年 6 月，查韦斯-德雷默与其他三名共和党人签署了一封由民主党议员牵头的致卡车司机工会领导层和 UPS 的信，确认支持工人在与这家包裹递送巨头就新合同进行激烈谈判时享有谈判和罢工的权利，从而进一步巩固了她在劳工领域的联盟。
尽管查韦斯-德雷默今年在连任竞选中败北，但一些地方工会支持她和她的民主党对手。
查韦斯-德雷默可能会从民主党参议员那里获得与共和党参议员一样多甚至更多的支持。许多右翼权力掮客谴责了她的提名，持怀疑态度的共和党参议员表示希望质问她是否反对“工作权”法律——许多红州的措施限制了组织工作场所的能力，并且是 PRO 法案的具体目标。
包括参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦在内的关键进步人士对她的提名做出了积极反应。
“我们需要一位关心工人的劳工部长，我想有机会更深入地了解她的背景，但她对《保护劳工权利法案》的支持是一个很大的信号，表明她了解工会代表工人并赋予他们在工作场所一定权力的重要性，”沃伦说。
拜登总统的首任劳工部长、前波士顿市长马丁·J·沃尔什 (Martin J. Walsh) 表示，查韦斯-德雷默作为共和党候选人，在如何成为劳工和企业之间的桥梁方面具有“独特性”。
“找到一个可以与企业和劳工合作的人很重要——这就是我在任时试图做的事情，”沃尔什说。“让双方都有一点机会表达自己的声音，我认为这是关键。这是我给她的建议。”
在采访中，工会领袖承认，鉴于特朗普政府偏爱亿万富翁和埃隆·马斯克这样的行业巨头，提名查韦斯-德雷默显然存在紧张局势。特朗普称赞马斯克镇压了特斯拉的组织活动，特斯拉是唯一一家没有工会代表工人的美国汽车制造商。
国际油漆工和相关行业工会主席 Jimmy Williams Jr. 表示，他对查韦斯-德雷默抱有“温和乐观”的态度，他认为查韦斯-德雷默“了解我们的问题，并有支持一些劳工最大事业的记录”。
“我说温和乐观”，Williams 补充道，“因为这几乎就像一个刚开始组建的政府……它可能与自己意见相左。”
在回应质询时，特朗普-万斯过渡团队发言人 Aly Beley 表示，特朗普正在寻求“在商界和劳工界之间建立历史性合作，以恢复工薪家庭的美国梦”。
“他选择……Lori Chavez-DeRemer 是因为她致力于通过创造机会、扩大培训和学徒制、提高工资、改善工作条件和振兴美国制造业来推进这一议程”，Beley 说。
这次选举是工会及其政治方法的一个转折点。绝大多数全国工会高层领导人仍然忠于拜登和副总统卡马拉·哈里斯，而普通会员则支持特朗普，特朗普对他们的吸引力如此之大，以至于一些大型工会在几代人以来一直可靠地支持民主党之后，拒绝支持任何人。
那些向特朗普伸出橄榄枝的领导人——最著名的是卡车司机工会主席肖恩·奥布莱恩，他是共和党总统大会上罕见的劳工官员——因认可当选总统对工人的吸引力而受到民主党领导人的严厉批评。
但看来奥布莱恩在本届选举周期中的中立态度得到了回报。据报道，他和卡车司机工会敦促特朗普提名查韦斯-德雷默。“我们认为她是劳工部长的最佳人选，”卡车司机工会发言人卡拉·德尼兹说。“胜利就是胜利。”
但特朗普第一届政府的记录让一些劳工人士持怀疑态度。马萨诸塞州美国劳工联合会-产业工会联合会主席克里斯西·林奇在一份声明中表示，工会对查韦斯-德雷默的背景感到鼓舞，但指出“这一选择与新政府对工会”和工人权利采取的敌对立场形成了鲜明对比。
参议院卫生、教育、劳工和养老金委员会成员埃德·马基参议员称特朗普的第一任期对工人来说是“毫无疑问的糟糕”。
马基在谈到查韦斯-德雷默的提名时说：“与其说是谨慎乐观，不如说是谨慎。”
特朗普在 2017 年提名的第一位劳工部长候选人、哈迪斯首席执行官安德鲁·普兹德反对提高最低工资和其他有利于劳工的政策。在一系列丑闻之后，他的提名未能获得支持。但特朗普最终确认的劳工部长亚历山大·阿科斯塔和尤金·斯卡利亚撤销了巴拉克·奥巴马时代有利于工会的规定，并将对企业友好的律师安排到国家劳工关系委员会的工作人员队伍中，该委员会是主要联邦工会相关法律的执行者。特朗普政府还在 2018 年判决的具有里程碑意义的 Janus v. AFSCME 案中站在劳工一边，这大大削弱了公共部门工会的权力。
据彭博社报道，普兹德再次出现在特朗普的候选人名单上，因此查韦斯-德雷默的入选对劳工来说是一个惊喜。
“我可以这样说：她听起来肯定不像是另一个马蒂·沃尔什，”波士顿卡车司机工会 122 分会的领导人约翰·墨菲说。“但我想，普遍的看法——情况可能会更糟——我认为可以公平地解读出大多数劳工人士对这个领域的想法。”
一些有影响力的特朗普盟友共和党人敦促他们的同事考虑查韦斯-德雷默。密苏里州参议员乔什·霍利最近在国会大厦表示：“事实上，她非常支持工人，所以一切都会好起来的。特朗普以支持工人的平台参选，所以我认为他正在兑现这一承诺，这是一个好兆头。”
卡车司机工会发言人丹尼兹预测，共和党对查韦斯-德雷默的反对不会很大。“极右翼的劳工权利人群，”她说，“已经精疲力竭了。”
虽然一些劳工领袖目前感到高兴，但他们会关注特朗普和他的劳工选择是否会兑现这些承诺。
“我喜欢消防员和工会组织，因为我们可以毫不犹豫地让自己和他人承担责任，”狄龙说。“如果你不尊重我们，如果你不履行协议，我们就会追究你的责任。”
题图：Lori Chavez-DeRemer 于 2022 年当选俄勒冈州摇摆选区的众议院议员，是三位共和党议员之一，与几乎所有众议院民主党人一起支持 PRO 法案。Andrew Harnik/美联社
附原英文报道：
Union leaders cautiously optimistic about Trump’s labor secretary pick
By Sam Brodey Globe Staff,Updated December 12, 2024
Elected to the House in 2022 to an Oregon swing district, Lori Chavez-DeRemer was just one of three GOP lawmakers to join nearly every House Democrat to endorse the PRO Act.Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — During his first term as president, Donald Trump’s three choices for secretary of labor were a fast-food CEO and two conservative lawyers, all of whom were viewed by organized labor as big business allies deeply hostile to their interests.
So when Trump nominated as his second-term labor secretary a congresswoman who backed the most sweeping pro-labor bill since the FDR era and touted union endorsements in her ultimately unsuccessful reelection bid, it sparked an unfamiliar feeling among union leaders and their allies on Capitol Hill toward the president-elect.
Hope.
The level of optimism for Trump’s pick, Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon, might vary or carry caveats, depending on the person. But there’s a broad sense of relief among allies of organized labor that it might finally have an ally in a Republican administration after decades of antagonism.
“I’m very encouraged,” said Sam Dillon, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 718, based in Boston. “So far, it seems the second time around, the Trump administration is going to take a more favorable and supportive approach to labor.”
Elected to the House in 2022 to an Oregon swing district, Chavez-DeRemer was just one of three GOP lawmakers to join nearly every House Democrat to endorse the PRO Act, which would significantly strengthen the capability of unions to organize and collectively bargain. And she also is one of eight GOP lawmakers sponsoring legislation to affirm the ability of public sector workers to form unions and organize.
In June 2023, Chavez-DeRemer further solidified her alliances in labor when she and three other Republicans signed onto a letter, led by Democratic lawmakers, to Teamsters leadership and UPS, affirming support for workers’ rights to bargain and strike when the union was locked in contentious negotiations with the package delivery giant over a new contract.
Though Chavez-DeRemer lost her close reelection campaign this year, some local labor unions endorsed both her and her Democratic opponent.
It’s possible Chavez-DeRemer could pick up as much, or more, support for her confirmation from Democratic senators as Republicans. Many power brokers on the right have condemned her nomination, and skeptical GOP senators have expressed a desire to question her over whether she opposes “right-to-work” laws — measures in many red states that limit the ability to organize workplaces and are specifically targeted by the PRO Act.
Key progressives, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, reacted positively to her nomination.
“We need a labor secretary who cares about workers and I want a chance to dig a little deeper into her background, but her support for the PRO Act is a big signal that she understands the importance of unions to represent workers and give them some power in the workplace,” Warren said.
President Biden’s first labor chief, former Boston mayor Martin J. Walsh, said Chavez-DeRemer has “uniqueness” for a Republican pick in how she could be a bridge between labor and business.
“Having somebody that can work with business and labor is important — that’s what I tried to do when I was in there,” Walsh said. “Having a little bit of opportunities for both sides to have their voices heard, I think that’s key. And that’s my advice to her.”
In interviews, labor leaders acknowledged the obvious tension of Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination, given the Trump administration’s penchant for billionaires and industry titans like Elon Musk, whom Trump has praised for quashing organizing attempts at Tesla, the only US-based automaker without any union-represented workers.
Jimmy Williams Jr., president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, said he feels “tepid optimism” about Chavez-DeRemer, who he said is “somebody that knows our issues and has a record of supporting some of labor’s biggest causes.”
“I say tepid,” Williams added, “because it’s almost like the administration that is starting to form . . . it could be at odds with itself.”
In response to an inquiry, Trump-Vance transition team spokesperson Aly Beley said Trump is seeking to “forge historic cooperation between the business and labor communities to restore the American Dream for working families.”
“He selected . . . Lori Chavez-DeRemer for her commitment to advancing this agenda by creating opportunities, expanding training and apprenticeships, raising wages, improving working conditions, and revitalizing American manufacturing,” Beley said.
The election was an inflection point for organized labor and its approach to politics. The vast majority of top national union leaders remained loyal to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris while rank-and-filers broke for Trump, who appealed to them so successfully that some large unions declined to endorse anyone after reliably backing Democrats for generations.
Those leaders who extended an olive branch to Trump — most notably Teamsters president Sean O’ Brien, a rare labor official to speak at a Republican presidential convention — were castigated by Democratic-aligned leaders for validating the president-elect’s appeal to workers.
But it appears O’Brien’s neutral approach this election cycle paid off. He and the Teamsters reportedly pushed Trump to nominate Chavez-DeRemer. “We think she is a great selection for labor secretary,” said Kara Deniz, spokesperson for the Teamsters. “A win is a win.”
But the record of the first Trump administration has left some in labor skeptical. Chrissy Lynch, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said in a statement that the union is encouraged by Chavez-DeRemer’s background but noted “this pick stands in contrast to the hostile positions the incoming administration has taken towards unions” and workers’ rights.
Senator Ed Markey, who serves on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called Trump’s first term “bad, no question” for workers.
“Rather than cautious optimism,” Markey said of Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination, “I would just say caution.”
Trump’s first nominee for labor secretary in 2017, Hardee’s CEO Andrew Puzder, opposed minimum wage increases and other pro-labor policies. His nomination failed to garner support after a string of scandals. But Trump’s eventual confirmed labor secretaries, Alexander Acosta and Eugene Scalia, rolled back Barack Obama-era rules favorable to unions and placed corporate-friendly lawyers on the staff of the National Labor Relations Board, the chief federal enforcer of key union-related laws. The Trump administration also sided against labor in the landmark Janus v. AFSCME case, decided in 2018, which significantly weakened the power of public sector unions.
According to Bloomberg, Puzder was again on Trump’s short list for the post, so Chavez-DeRemer’s selection was something of a welcome surprise for labor.
“I can say this: it certainly doesn’t sound like she’s another Marty Walsh,” said John Murphy, leader of the Teamsters Local 122 in Boston. “But I guess the prevailing wisdom — it could have been a lot worse — I think is a fair read of what most labor people are thinking around this area.”
Some influential Trump-allied Republicans are urging their colleagues to consider Chavez-DeRemer. “The fact that she’s very pro-worker, I mean, it’s all going to be fine,” Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said recently at the Capitol. “. . . Trump ran on a pro-worker platform, so I think it’s a good sign that he’s delivering on that.”
Deniz, the Teamsters spokesperson, predicted that GOP opposition to Chavez-DeRemer would not be significant. “The far-right right-to-work crowd,” she said, “is spent.”
While some labor leaders are pleased for now, they will be watching to see if those promises are kept by Trump and his labor pick.
“What I love about firefighters, organized labor, is we have no problem holding ourselves and others accountable,” said Dillon. “If you disrespect us, if you don’t hold up your end of the deal, we’ll come after you and hold you accountable.”
