Lori Chavez-DeRemer, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Labor, told lawmakers on Wednesday that if confirmed she would respect state right-to-work laws after previously backing a bill that would have repealed laws allowing workers to opt out of labor unions.
Chavez-DeRemer, a former Republican congresswoman from Oregon, told lawmakers in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions multiple times that she would not oppose right-to-work states. This is a reversal from her time in Congress, when she backed the PRO Act, legislation that would have overturned state laws allowing a worker to not be forced to join a union or pay union dues to be employed.
During the hearing, Chavez-DeRemer indicated to both Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) that she would not challenge right-to-work laws.
When asked by Cassidy whether she still…
