Labor secretary talks trades, railroad merger in visit to western Iowa

U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer put a spotlight on the success of registered apprenticeship programs during a visit to a community college in western Iowa.

The labor secretary has been touring the country as an ambassador for President Donald Trump's administration, and she asked the people she met with Wednesday in Council Bluffs and across the border in Omaha, Neb., to relay any needs they have.

Iowa Western Community College President Dan Kinney, who said he plans to meet again with Chavez-DeRemer in Washington next month, told the Nonpareil that the U.S. Department of Labor reached out to the college, not the other way around.

"It really shows that what we're doing is recognized locally, it is recognized at the national level," Kinney said. "It's not being driven by the college. It's being driven by industry. We're working hand-in-hand with our advisory committees and things like that to drive what is happening in our classrooms."

Taking a tour

Kinney took Chavez-DeRemer on a tour of Kinney Hall — named for his father, the previous president of Iowa Western — to showcase various trades programs at the community college.

Iowa Western recently passed a $55 million bond issue and is working to build a new 86,000-square-foot building for its transportation and logistics programs. The bond also will bring more career education to Clarinda, Shenandoah and Atlantic through Iowa Western's regional centers and free up space at Kinney Hall for some of the programs currently housed in that facility.

Among the stops was a lab where students have just started a new registered apprenticeship program in heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration. The apprenticeship requires 2,000 hours of work at a job site along with 144 hours of classroom instruction.

Chavez-DeRemer also met with Abraham Lincoln High School junior Tyler Walter in the Palfinger Welding Lab. Chavez-DeRemer encouraged him to consider going to build pipelines in Alaska.

"I was planning on joining the Air National Guard after I graduate," Walter told the secretary.

Chavez-DeRemer encouraged Walter to continue to work hard.

"We need lots of manufacturing," she said. "We needs lot of fabrication, lots of construction. The president has been very clear. He wants to build the manufacturing sector — the blue-collar boom — and we want to make sure we're investing in you.“

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Railroad merger

Chavez-DeRemer also visited the Union Pacific Harriman Dispatch Center in Omaha to have a firsthand look at the rail traffic control headquarters for the company, which is seeking regulatory approval to merge with Norfolk Southern to create the nation's first transcontinental railroad.

Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena said the "next step" for the company is to provide the United States with a "railroad that runs from one end of the country to the other" without the need to change between carriers.

"It would be like if you had to fly to Washington, D.C," Vena said. "We're going to get you to stop in Chicago. You're going to get off that plane, you're going to change to another carrier, buy a new ticket and, hopefully, you're not late in the first plane because they'll leave you to get to Washington. And that's what we're trying to do."

Vena pledged to be responsive to questions from the Department of Labor. He went on to discuss how Union Pacific trains employees and will hire people who do not have college degrees.

"We are very proud of what we do for America," Vena said.

Chavez-DeRemer told Vena the Trump administration has said it wants to help with compliance.

"We want America to be number one, and that's what we're focused on," she said. "So, I know that you visit with the president, I know that this next merger is a big deal, and we want to make sure that we can help you get all the way across the country and do all of those things."

No questions allowed

Chavez-DeRemer didn't take questions from the press at either the Iowa Western or Union Pacific tours, with an aide offering instead to follow-up with questions from local reporters.

The secretary's office had originally planned a media availability after the Union Pacific tour, but following a schedule update there was no opportunity for reporters to ask questions.

Two of Chavez-DeRemer's top aides were placed on leave Monday amid an investigation by the agency's inspector general. Politico reported that Chief of Staff Jihun Han and his deputy, Rebecca Wright, have been accused of devising official events for Chavez-DeRemer in order to facilitate her personal travel.

The New York Post reported last week that Chavez-DeRemer is under investigation for an "inappropriate" relationship with a subordinate, with the newspaper connecting that to the "travel fraud" allegations involving the now-suspended aides.

Chavez-DeRemer is seeking to visit all 50 states to serve as a liaison for the Trump administration. While at Union Pacific, she noted Nebraska was her 40th state. A news release stating that she crossed the halfway mark called the traveling her "America at Work listening tour."

In both Omaha and Council Bluffs, Chavez-DeRemer referred to the value of having liaisons to help tell success stories to the broader community. She said she would take insights from the tour "back to the president" to help guide investments.

"You have a real story to tell, an American story to tell, and we should keep telling it," Chavez-DeRemer told a group of Union Pacific employees.

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