CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder speaks at a news conference on August 6, 2014, in Austin, Texas.
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Puzder, whose company operates the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast-food chains, appeared as a Trump surrogate during the presidential campaign.
“In Andrew Puzder, Trump found a labour secretary that would help him roll back the minimum wage, end the overtime rule that will raise wages for millions, weaken safeguards for workers, and to wipe out unions”, said American Bridge, a liberal advocacy group. “It isn’t amnesty if immigrants admit wrongdoing and accept punishment”. Puzder is now on the board of the International Franchise Association, a trade lobbying group that has pushed for the maintenance of liberalized labor markets.
Here is the record at those restaurants. Their platform is very close to Puzder’s position.
“When my son was 13 or 14 years old, he didn’t want to eat where the clown, the kids or the pigtails ate”, Puzder said. “I think you will be liking some of the things we will be putting forward in the not too distant future”.
The New York-basedRetail, Wholesale and Department Store Union called Puzder’s stand on the minimum wage – the exec says it should be no more than $9 an hour, up from the decade-old level of $7.25 – “shameful”. “Whereas in other parts of the country you often get people that are saying, “I can’t believe I have to work this job, ‘ with the immigration population you always have the, ‘Thank God I have this job” kind of attitude”.
Puzder is a proponent of replacing workers with kiosks and other automated technology to keep labor costs down.
The divorce filing also detailed two other incidents: One in the late ’70s in which the neighbors called the police after a shouting match turned into a plate-throwing fight, and one in which Lisa Henning alleged that Puzder punched her in 1985 while they were driving in a auto. “[Many undocumented immigrants] live in fear of being deported, losing what they’ve built and being separated from their families”. His nomination is being hailed as a positive step by members of the business community, who have expressed concern that current DOL policies are administratively burdensome, have hindered employment expansion, and have not kept pace with the changing nature of the modern workforce.
The Center for Responsive Politics reported Puzder donated slightly more than $400,000 to various Republican candidates and campaign finance committees, with more than half to party campaign finance arms.
The Department of Labor is also in charge of certifying foreign laborers before they are issued visas to come to the United States, including the H-1B program for skilled workers and the H-2A program for seasonal agricultural workers.
Puzder doesn’t see the issue.
“Guest-worker visas should ebb and flow with the economy”. Spend more time working-less time talking. “I’ve said at every interview that I’m grateful for President-elect Trump getting involved … without his involvement these 800 jobs would not remain in Indianapolis”.
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Friday, Mr. Trump’s victory tour will take him to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
