Anti-wage-hike fast food CEO for Labor Dept.
PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has tapped Andy Puzder, the CEO of a fast food restaurant chain company and an outspoken opponent of raising the federal minimum wage, as his labor secretary, transition sources said.
Puzder, who is the head of CKE Restaurants Inc., the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, served as a Trump surrogate during the presidential campaign and advised the mogul on economic issues.
A formal announcement by Trump’s transition team will occur soon, Reuters reported.
The appointment of Puzder, whose industry has been the primary target of the “Fight for $15” movement, bodes poorly for national efforts to increase the federal minimum wage.
He has repeatedly argued against raising the federal minimum wage higher than $9 an hour and has also been a frequent and fierce critic of Obamacare, saying that the President’s signature health care law has hurt businesses.
Pro-worker groups and lawmakers immediately criticized the pick, including New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who called the Puzder's selection a “cruel and baffling decision” by Trump.
“President-elect Trump’s reported choice to lead the Labor Department has done everything in his power to undermine the rights of American workers, from driving down wages to opposing overtime pay,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “Even worse, Andrew Puzder presided over a fast-food chain that repeatedly stole workers’ hard earned wages.”
The “Fight for $15” group itself blasted the appointment as “sad,” saying that Puzder “makes more in a day than we do in a year.”
Wade Henderson, the CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Coalition, called Puzder “an opponent of jobs that make America great and put food on the table.
“He opposes fair wages, he opposes overtime pay, he opposes sick days, and he opposes health care benefits — all of which have a great impact on working class families, communities of color and women,” he said.
The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, which translates to just $15,080 a year for someone working 40 hours a week — an amount below the federal poverty threshold for a family of two or more.
Like top Trump adviser Stephen Bannon, Puzder has been accused of domestic violence. Ex-wife Lisa Henning said he “attacked me, choked me, threw me to the floor (and) hit me in the head,” according to a 1989 Riverfront Times article.
He denied any wrongdoing, and Henning recanted the allegations in a statement to the St. Louis area paper Thursday night.
Puzder has also faced blowback over ads run by Carl’s Jr., featuring scantily clad women munching on burgers.
The executive has defended the ads, telling Entrepreneur magazine last year, “I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis. I think it’s very American.” THE WOMAN who had an affair with former CIA Director David Petraeus — leading to his exit in disgrace — said she is still being unfairly punished, while her former lover might ride a second wave into the Trump administration.
“I’m really just asking on principle to be treated with dignity and also to be treated by the same standard with the military,” Paula Broadwell told “CBS This Morning” Thursday, in her first TV interview since news of the affair broke in 2012 (right).
She likened the judgment over her affair to “thinking and living with cancer.”
“I don’t know if it’s going to metastasize and get worse, or will it go away,” Broadwell said.
Broadwell and Petraeus began their affair when she was writing an authorized biography of the married Iraq war general, called “All In.” Petraeus later admitted to leaking her classified information and pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge.
He was slapped with a $100,000 fine and two years’ probation — and is under consideration for secretary of state.
Broadwell said it was a “shock” to hear of Petraeus’ potential promotion — and she is hoping for her own second chance.
“I have something to offer the world,” she said.