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105 organizations to Congress: Reject Hardee's CEO for labor secretary

January 30, 2017

A coalition of more than 100 groups representing food chain employees, as well as corporate accountability and environmental organizations is calling on U.S. legislators to reject CKE Restaurant CEO Andrew Puzder as the next U.S. Secretary of Labor. 

The organizations, which a news release said represent more than 10 million people working in foodservice and production nationally, sent a letter to Capitol Hill urging senators to block President Donald Trump's choice to lead the nation's primary agency for those involved in the labor force.  

The group's letter to Capitol Hill refers to a recent investigative journalism report that found CKE Restaurants — with Puzder at the helm — faced more federal employment discrimination lawsuits than any other fast food chain, with accusations the company violated employee rights and failed to pay workers for time spent on the job. CKE is the corporate entity that operates the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. chains.
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"Andrew Puzder is dangerous for working families and bad for our food system," Food Chain Workers Alliance Co-Director Jose Oliva, said in the news release. "The country needs a labor secretary who will protect working families, not corporate interests. Puzder’s track record as CEO of CKE Restaurants proves that he should be kept as far away from Washington as possible."

Some of the groups involved in this action include Corporate Accountability International, Food Chain Workers Alliance, Friends of the Earth, and Real Food Media. They allege that under Puzder the two chains have: 
•    Faced numerous Department of Labor violations for minimum wage or overtime violations.
•    Violated labor law in 60 percent of their inspections. 

"Putting an outspoken critic of worker protections and a living wage in charge of the Department of Labor is straight out of an Orwellian nightmare," Friends of the Earth Deputy Director of Food and Technology Kari Hamerschlag said in the release. "The Senate must reject the nomination of Puzder if it cares at all about the basic rights of working people."

Puzder’s senate confirmation hearing begins Tuesday, Feb. 7.

Related: Women's organization deploys mobile billboard

National women's advocacy organization, Ultraviolet, is also unleashing its wrath against the Puzder nomination. According to a news release, the organization is dispatching a mobile billboard today emblazoned with the words, "Puzder Abuses Women and Workers. Don’t Let Him Abuse US as Labor Secretary."

The billboard will be in the Franklin/Nashville area of Tennessee through Feb. 2, the day of Puzder’s Senate confirmation hearing. The group will also post online ads in Tennessee, Washington DC, and Carpinteria, California, where CKE restaurants is based with that message over the same period. 

"Puzder degrades and objectifies women with nauseating burger ad campaigns and has a reputation of fighting workers owed overtime pay; he opposed the expansion of the Affordable Care Act, increases in the minimum wage, paid family and medical leave policies, and he oversees restaurants that engaged in multiple wage and hour violations against workers," UltraViolet Co-founder Nita Chaudhary, said in the realease.  "The Secretary of Labor needs to be an advocate for working Americans, but throughout his career, Puzder has proven himself to be the exact opposite.  He will be bad for women, bad for workers and especially bad for women who work."

Cover phot: iStock