100+ Food and Farm Groups to Senate: Trump’s Proposed Secretary of Labor is ‘Dangerous’

By Kenrya Rankin Jan 30, 2017

The Senate confirmation for President Trump’s labor secretary nominee, Andrew Puzder, has been delayed twice, with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee hearing now set for February 7. In the days leading up to the hearing, 105 food and farm groups want Congress to know that Puzder would be a “dangerous” pick.

The coalition—which is lead by Corporate Accountability International, Food Chain Workers Alliance, Friends of the Earth and Real Food Media—sent members of the United States Senate a letter today (January 30) that outlines why it thinks Puzder “would be yet one more nominee working for the interests of big business over the interests of working people.”

The letter specifically outlines what it identifies as conflicts of interests for Puzder, who is CEO of CKE Restaurants, the company that operates Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. They include:

  • Puzder’s company has faced numerous Department of Labor violations for failing to pay the minimum wage or overtime
     
  • Nearly 60 percent of inspections of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants [from 2009 to 2015] found labor law violations
     
  • Puzder has opposed both raising the minimum wage and enforcement of overtime rules and mandatory sick leave

“The choice of Andrew Puzder for secretary of labor is a dangerous one for this country’s working families,” Sriram Madhusoodanan of Corporate Accountability International said in a statement. “If President Trump truly wants to ‘drain the swamp,’ why is he nominating people like Puzder, who have played an outsized role creating the swamp in the first place?”

Puzder has been the target of several protests, including a nationwide Fight for $15 action earlier this month that featured his employees in more than two dozen cities.

Read the letter and the full list of signees here.