3 Reasons Why a Randi Weingarten “Endorsement” Is Quite the Opposite

Joining a recent endorsement from Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten on Thursday praised the potential nomination of Congresswoman Chavez-DeRemer for Secretary of Labor.

“Now, this would be a significant appointment for Trump to make… Lori Chavez-DeRemer touted for US Labor Secretary,” Weingarten wrote on X, to the consternation of conservatives.

Chavez-DeRemer is a co-sponsor of the anti-worker “Protecting the Right to Organize” (PRO) Act, a bill that bans right-to-work laws nationwide, snuffs out independent contractors who want to be their own boss, and exacerbates union harassment of workers. The PRO Act is Big Labor’s biggest priority because its end goal is to shove all workers into unions. 

Weingarten’s endorsement should concern Republicans, given her lengthy record of far-left advocacy and bitter opposition to Trump’s agenda. A DOL pick that counts Sean O’Brien and Randi Weingarten as fans should be worrying to all who support worker freedom.

Here are three reasons why a Weingarten “endorsement” serves as precisely the opposite:

1. Weingarten Puts Government Workers Above the American People.

Randi Weingarten came into the public eye most prominently in 2020 as the face of national school closures.

Even as other countries began reopening schools, Weingarten continued to advocate well into 2021 for keeping schools closed or hybrid, rather than reopening fully. Weingarten’s influence reportedly changed Biden administration policy for the worse, locking many children out of an education and extending a period of instability for families. Weingarten called school reopening plans in 2020 “reckless,” “callous,” and “cruel.”

In order to prevent public school teachers from having to go back to work, Weingarten was willing to sacrifice the education of students. Studies have shown that lengthy school closures during the pandemic and post-pandemic period resulted in significantly worse learning outcomes.

In the federal government, public-sector unions are still fighting against any new return-to-office plans, nearly five years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Weingarten and other public-sector union bosses continue to put the wants of government employees over the needs of the American people.

As noted by Michael Watson of Capital Research Center, Weingarten is likely also a fan of Chavez-DeRemer’s support for the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which federalizes public-sector bargaining rules in states and localities and mandates union recognition. This bill, supported by most congressional Democrats, would enhance the ability for public-sector union bosses to push back against reasonable reforms that are beneficial to taxpayers.

In Weingarten’s world, as many public-sector employees as possible should be unionized––and these unionized government agents should take priority over American families, taxpayers, and even children.

2. AFT Exclusively Supports Democrats and Liberal Causes.

Teachers unions in the United States are some of the biggest backers of Democratic political candidates as well as far-left economic and social causes.

Under Weingarten’s leadership, the American Federation of Teachers gave 100 percent of their political donations to Democratic candidates and liberal issue groups in the 2023-2024 cycle, a total of $8.3 million. The other largest teachers union in the country, the National Education Association (NEA), also gave 99.8 percent of their political donations to Democrats and liberal groups, totaling more than $33 million.

Like other far-left labor union bosses, Weingarten does not merely advocate for labor or education issues. Rather, Weingarten has used the AFT machine to push for the whole swath of Democratic Party-approved policies, such as abortion, tax hikes, gun confiscations, amnesty for illegal immigrants, and even niche issues like enhancing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s powers. AFT serves as little more than a vehicle for funding leftwing causes.

Much of this money also was spent directly opposing Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in their campaign for the White House.

3. Weingarten Despises Donald Trump and His Agenda.

Randi Weingarten has a lengthy record of denigrating President Trump personally and working to prevent him from obtaining office.

At the AFT annual convention in July, for example, Weingarten gave a boisterous speech in which she called Trump a “fascist” and an “existential threat” to democracy.

In a statement published immediately after Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, Weingarten wrote that Trump had a “disastrous jobs record, the worst of any president since the Great Depression.” She went on to write that a “second Trump term would send the country backward. It would mean the end of basic freedoms.”

When Weingarten and NEA President Becky Pringle took the stage together at the Democratic National Convention in August, the heated rhetoric continued. Weingarten accused Trump and Vance of not being “pro-child” or “pro-family,” while Pringle said the candidates were “not just wrong, they’re dangerous.”

An endorsement from Randi Weingarten––who opposes worker freedom, acts as an agent of the Democratic Party, and despises President Trump himself––is not an endorsement at all.