The first official visit to Rhode Island by a member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet turned out to be a largely private affair.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer met with Cranston firefighters at their Pontiac Avenue headquarters Thursday afternoon as part of her “America at Work” listening tour.
The secretary’s staff and security detail drove directly into the fire department’s bay-windowed garage shortly before 1 p.m., closed the doors, then opened them once she was inside. Reporters were kept at a distance, and the secretary was kept out of sight. Firefighters then ran through demonstrations in baggy, fluorescent-colored hazmat suits as the secretary toured the station inside.
A few hours before the event, Hunter Lovell, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor, said via email that Thursday’s visit builds on Chavez-DeRemer’s celebration earlier this year of National Apprenticeship Day, when she hosted the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) for a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on new apprenticeship standards for first responders.
“Firefighters put their lives on the line every day, and it’s critical they have access to the best training and apprenticeship opportunities available,” Chavez-DeRemer said in her statement. “I’m grateful for the impressive work the Cranston Fire Department and the International Association of Fire Fighters are doing to prepare the next generation of first responders, and I deeply appreciate their dedication and service to their communities.”
Apprenticeships and staffing challenges were some of the topics discussed during the secretary’s visit, firefighter told reporters after Chavez-DeRemer had left. But unlike the secretary’s recent tour stops in New Hampshire and Idaho, the press was not allowed a peek at Chavez-DeRemer’s interactions and luncheon with the fire department’s recruits and senior staff.
Just after 2 p.m., the front doors to the fire station’s garage closed again, as Chavez-DeRemer and her staff gathered in the garage area to watch a demonstration out of sight of the three reporters and a cameraman who had been waiting outside for over an hour.
The secretary’s two-car motorcade drove off shortly afterward, as reporters shouted questions for the secretary.. A remaining federal staffer who parked on the other side of the fire station ran away when reporters began asking questions, got into his car and drove off.
The fire department had suggested the news media would have the opportunity to ask the secretary questions, but by the event’s conclusion it was still unclear who decided to keep the event private. One federal staffer told reporters that the fire department had asked for things to be kept private.
“That’s not my call. I have no comment on that,” Jonathan Francis, union president of Cranston Firefighters IAFF Local 1363, told reporters after the secretary left.
Firefighters said they enjoyed a pleasant afternoon with the secretary discussing staffing and workforce issues. Francis said that Cranston is short six firefighters from being fully staffed, and that they’re hiring — but the city’s situation is not unique.
“Every community is struggling,” he said. “Call numbers — they’re never going down, they’re always going up. We see that going on throughout the state.”
Cranston’s Republican Mayor Ken Hopkins was invited but was unable to attend, his spokesperson, Zachary DeLuca, said. Hopkins’ Chief of Staff Anthony Moretti did attend, however, and spoke with reporters alongside firefighters. Moretti said the event was on the mayor’s calendar at least a week ago.
Why Cranston for the quietly momentous cabinet member visit?
“Because we’re the best fire department in the best city in the state of Rhode Island,” Moretti said, adding that, to his knowledge, no other fire departments had been invited by the labor department ahead of the secretary’s visit.
Moretti said Chavez-DeRemer had wanted “to really keep it low-key, to sit down, meet face to face with the various firefighters.” He characterized the “very genuine” event as one in which the need for “intimacy” with laborers was perhaps prioritized over public access.
“She seemed to relate so well to the firefighters’ department,” Moretti said, relaying the secretary’s comment that firefighters don’t serve Republicans or Democrats but the public at large. “It’s pretty resounding, and it really speaks true of what these people do.”
The chief of staff also clarified what was on the lunch menu.
“Diced chicken,” he said. “A spicy, diced chicken, and a healthy salad.”
Union-friendly, but under fire
Prior to her confirmation as labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer accrued a largely favorable record with large unions nationwide. As a one-term U.S. representative for Oregon’s fifth district, Chavez-DeRemer — whose father was a Teamster — emerged as one of the GOP’s most pro-union members, being one of few Republicans to support the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act — legislation AFL-CIO has hailed as “landmark worker empowerment.”
In March, Chavez-DeRemer’s proclivity for supporting unions led two Republican senators — Kentucky’s Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell — to vote against her confirmation as labor secretary. Her appointment succeeded, with a 67-32 vote.
In a Thursday statement, Rhode Island’s solidly blue congressional delegation pounced on Chavez-DeRemer’s visit for seemingly opposite reasons, citing the Trump administration’s recent cancellation of the Revolution Wind project off of Block Island. The Aug. 22 stop-work order paused the 80% complete offshore wind project, idling an estimated 1,000 unionized workers.
U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Reps. Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo issued a joint statement that found the labor secretary’s visit optically problematic after the Revolution Wind news and the recent unfurling of a banner sporting Trump’s visage outside the U.S. Department of Labor building.
“Instead of having her staff make a giant banner of the President to hang at the Labor Department, Secretary Chavez-DeRemer would be wise to listen to and learn from the hardworking Rhode Islanders that the Trump administration put out of work this Labor Day weekend in their corrupt quest to crush clean energy,” the delegates wrote. “We hope she does so on this trip.”
Whitehouse also launched separate salvoes against the visit on his X and Facebook accounts. Reed followed suit and made a similar post on Thursday morning.
The two senators, however, were more divided when it came time to confirm Chavez-DeRemer’s appointment back in March. Like Rand and McConnell, Reed was one of 32 dissenters who voted against Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation. Whitehouse voted in support.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
