Andrew Puzder Is the Wrong Choice for Labor Secretary
NEW! Mr. Puzder recently admitted that he employed an undocumented immigrant to clean his house! As a scofflaw who's also anti-worker, he’s clearly the wrong person for labor secretary.
NEW! Patty Murray speaking to the Senate on Jan. 31:
“And lastly, M. President, I’ve grown
increasingly concerned that President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of
Labor, Andrew Puzder, represents yet another broken promise to put
workers first. On issue after issue, Andrew Puzder has made clear he
will do what’s best for big businesses like his own at the expense of
workers and their families. He’s spoken out against a strong increase in
the minimum wage. He’s been one of the most vocal opponents of our
efforts to update the rules so that millions more workers can earn
overtime pay.
“Puzder has even talked about replacing
workers with robots, because they “never take a vacation, they never
show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex or race
discrimination case.” And he has aggressively defended his company’s
offensive ads—leaving women across the country wondering whether he can
be trusted in a role that is so critical to women’s rights and safety in
the workplace.
“Now, all of that makes a lot of sense coming
from a millionaire CEO who profits off of squeezing workers, but it’s
very concerning coming from a potential Secretary of Labor—someone who
should be standing up for workers and making sure they get treated
fairly, rather than mistreated. So, now more than ever, people across
the country want to know how the Trump Administration will continue to
impact their lives, and we Democrats consider it our job to stand up
when President Trump tries to hurt the families we represent.
“We are ready to stand with the families we
represent, to hold him and his Administration accountable—and we refuse
to back down and are prepared to fight back. Thank you, and I yield the
floor.”
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD of the NYTimes, DEC. 8, 2016
Working in fast-food is no picnic.
The industry is infamous for grindingly low pay and labor law violations. Yet
Andrew Puzder, the chief executive of the company that operates Carl’s Jr. and
Hardee’s, has been chosen
by President-elect Donald Trump as labor secretary.
Here is the record at those
restaurants. When the Obama Labor Department looked at thousands of complaints
involving fast-food workers, it found labor law violations in 60 percent of the
investigations at Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, usually for failure to pay the
minimum wage or time and a half for overtime.
The central problem for workers
today is persistently low pay, even at profitable companies with highly paid
executives. Mr. Puzder, however, has been adamantly opposed to a meaningful
increase in the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour. Mr. Trump has
said he could stomach an increase to $10, which is still abysmal. Ideally, a
labor secretary, who is supposed to have a deeper understanding of this issue,
would push for much more. But Mr. Puzder has said that a big raise would mean
fewer jobs for workers starting out. Even if that was true, and the evidence
suggests otherwise, there are millions more who would benefit from raising the
minimum wage.
Mr. Puzder has also been a scathing
critic of efforts by the Obama administration to update the rules for
overtime-pay eligibility, which have not been fully adjusted for inflation
since the mid-1970s. His argument boils down to an assertion that employees
prefer a low salary and the “prestige” of a managerial title — even though they
would be entitled to overtime if they remained hourly employees. His opposition
to the new overtime rules is especially troubling given that it would be his
task as labor secretary to defend the rules, which have been challenged in
court.
Mr. Puzder has also blamed
the Affordable Care Act for causing a “restaurant recession.” There is no
evidence that health care reform has harmed job growth, and there is certainly
no evidence of a restaurant recession.
Mandatory sick leave has been
criticized by Mr. Puzder as well. He says it would be an undue burden on
businesses. Yet in all other advanced economies, paid sick days, paid parental
leave and similar policies are rightly seen as investments in human capital, as
necessary as investments in plants and equipment.
For Mr. Puzder, being pro-business
seems to mean being anti-worker. That makes him the wrong choice for labor
secretary.
