Op-Ed: Matt Haller: Why a leading business organization is supporting Trump’s Labor nominee, Lori Chavez-DeRemer

Every one of President Donald Trump’s nominees have been confirmed to date, a streak poised to continue after a Senate committee advanced former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R., Ore.) to lead the U.S. Department of Labor.

Her nomination wasn’t always a sure thing. Chavez-DeRemer was seen as an unconventional pick for a Republican administration, enjoying support from the Teamsters and their president, Sean O’Brien. Her legislative record included co-sponsorship of the union-backed Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which was fiercely opposed by the business community, including the organization I represent.

One headline from Politico even declared, “business groups wary of Trump’s pro-union Labor secretary pick.”

As the head of one of these business groups, the International Franchise Association (IFA), we took a different approach. In fact, IFA was one of the first organizations to throw our support behind Congresswoman Chavez-DeRemer. Our announcement turned some heads (a Bloomberg headline put it “Major Business Lobbying Group Endorses Trump’s Labor Pick”), but Chavez-DeRemer validated our early support during her testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).

During that hearing, Chavez-DeRemer reiterated her commitment to the Trump growth agenda, and highlighted the role franchising will play toward that mission: “the president’s goal is to uplift all business owners and all American workers, understanding the franchise business model is important to the American workforce.”

She’s right. With more than 830,000 units nationwide, franchising accounts for over 3 percent of U.S. GDP and nine million jobs, our research shows we are poised for a big year ahead, adding 20,000 new small businesses and over 200,000 new jobs to the U.S. economy this year, due to easing inflationary pressure and deregulation.

Using the first four years as a guide, the Trump policies were very good for small businesses. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provided key relief for many small businesses, especially the Section 199A provision that allows for a 20 percent deduction for qualified business income. The new administration and Congress have pledged to extend or make permanent these tax cuts before their expiration at the end of the year.

Perhaps no policy matters more to the franchise community than the independence between franchisors and franchisees, something that has been complicated by ambiguity during the last decade around the “joint employer standard.”

In 2020, the Trump administration’s joint employer rule struck the appropriate balance at both the NLRB and the Department of Labor. Three years later, the Biden administration undid this policy in favor of a far broader and more expansive version of joint employer that created significant costs to small businesses.

Congress immediately got to work on a repeal measure to overturn the flawed Biden standard, an effort Chavez-DeRemer supported when it came before the U.S. House last January.

As she stated last week, Chavez-DeRemer, “supported the overturning of the NLRB rule on joint employer to support the franchise business model, calling it, “important to grow this economy.”

Here again, she is spot on. According to Oxford Economics, franchising pays higher wages and better benefits than non-franchised businesses, as well as greater entrepreneurial opportunities to minorities, women, veterans, and other underrepresented communities.

Put another way, franchising offers an economic boost for many in the Trump coalition, including both workers and businesses.

To those still on the fence about Chavez-DeRemer, especially her support of the PRO Act, I get it. No organization opposed the PRO Act with more vigor than ours. It was an existential threat to the franchise model.

Last week, Chavez-DeRemer distanced herself from the PRO Act, calling it “imperfect” and noting she is no longer representing a swing district in Oregon in Congress, but will be the Trump administration’s representative to drive wage growth for American workers.

Just as Trump isn’t your father’s Republican president, the calcified ideological lines between labor and business have softened. After nearly coming to blows not that long ago, Sean O’Brien and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R., Okla.) have buried the hatchet, united in their support of Chavez-DeRemer.

Like other members of the Trump Cabinet with non-traditional resumes, Chavez-DeRemer is the vehicle to enact the agenda of the economic advancement this administration seeks to achieve. For President Trump to deliver the golden age of America, he needs franchising.

When the future of Main Street franchises was on the line, Lori Chavez-DeRemer stood with the 830,000 franchised small businesses and their 9 million employees. That’s why we have her back now and believe she is the right person to enable the franchise business model to reach even new heights.

Matt Haller is the President and CEO of the International Franchise Association