Tag: andrew puzder
Heaven Help The Little Guy In This Administration

Heaven Help The Little Guy In This Administration

With Andrew Puzder’s decision to withdraw from consideration as secretary of labor, advocates for America’s working men and women are doing a little victory dance. Progressive senators, labor unions, and other allies of the working class believe they have managed an important win against an administration of robber barons.

Speaking to low-wage workers rallying near the Capitol on Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said, “Our voices have been heard. That man will not be secretary of labor.”

Unfortunately, the celebratory dance is premature. Just weeks into his tenure, President Trump has already stuck a sharp stick in the eye of his working-class supporters, and he won’t stop just because one nominee was upended. Puzder’s departure changes nothing.

The nascent Trump administration has generated so much controversy, so much chaos, and so much scandal in its first month or so that it’s hard to keep up with all the damage being done to democratic norms and to basic decency. In a normal administration, the new president would already be undone by his administration’s clearly inappropriate (and quite possibly treasonous) dealings with a foreign rival, Russia.

But this is no normal administration, and these are no normal times. In this hyper-partisan era, when the president and his henchmen dismiss clear and obvious facts, Republican officeholders and their constituents are standing by Trump’s perfidy.

It doesn’t seem to matter that he has already betrayed the promises he made to the white working class, whose economic anxiety is credited with vaulting him into the Oval Office.

Just take a look at the number of hands Trump has hired from Wall Street. He blasted Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton throughout the campaign for her ties to the nation’s wealthy bankers, claiming she would be “totally controlled by Wall Street and all the people that gave her millions.”

But in a stunning display of cynicism, even by political standards, Trump named a wealthy former Goldman Sachs partner, Steven Mnuchin, as secretary of the treasury. He has named Goldman Sachs’ chief operating officer as the head of his Council of Economic Advisers. Indeed, Trump will have one of the wealthiest Cabinets in recent history, having named a lineup of billionaires and millionaires to fill out his team.

And what is that administration doing, with the aid of a Republican Congress? Why, they are busy rolling back the regulations that President Obama put in place to prevent another financial crisis of the sort that struck in 2008.

The financial meltdown was brought to you by Wall Street greed, but its misery was visited on ordinary Americans, who lost their jobs, their homes and their life savings. Trump’s allies couldn’t wait for the chance to reclaim the freewheeling environment that allowed them to make that mess.

And that’s just the beginning. Speaker Paul Ryan and a coterie of ultraconservative Republicans in Congress have long wanted to take an ax to the government programs that aid the poor, including food stamps, housing assistance, and school lunch programs. Never mind that those programs have lifted more white Americans out of poverty than black or brown ones, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank. Trump may block Ryan’s efforts to trim Social Security, but he is likely to allow him to diminish other parts of the social safety net.

When all is said and done, then, Puzder’s departure will matter little. Yes, his record showed a corporate leader whose rhetoric was uniquely reprehensible. He once said he preferred robots to human workers because “they’re always polite, they always upsell, 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.”

But Puzder’s confirmation was not thwarted because of his egregious record on labor. He ran into trouble because he supports a generous policy on immigration and also hired an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper, and several Republican senators objected to that.

Puzder’s replacement, Alexander Acosta, hails from an immigrant background (his parents came from Cuba), and he is a former U.S. attorney. But there is no reason to expect him to have any great compassion or concern for the little guy. Trump’s white working-class supporters are in for nothing but disappointment.

Cynthia Tucker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2007. She can be reached at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com.

IMAGE: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice-President Elect Mike Pence tour a Carrier factory in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., December 1, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Labor Secretary Nominee Puzder Can’t Take The Heat, Withdraws From Consideration

Labor Secretary Nominee Puzder Can’t Take The Heat, Withdraws From Consideration

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a blow to President Donald Trump as he tries to assemble his administration, his nominee for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, withdrew his name from consideration on Wednesday amid concerns that he could not garner enough Senate votes to be confirmed.

Puzder’s decision to withdraw is yet another setback this week for a White House still grappling with fallout from Monday night’s abrupt resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn, after less than a month in the job.

Puzder, the chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants Inc, which franchises fast-food chains including Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr, has been at the center of a swirl of controversies, complaints, and potential conflicts.

He admitted earlier this month that he and his wife had employed an undocumented person as a housekeeper. He faced a flurry of complaints and legal cases brought in recent weeks and months by workers against his business and its franchises. Most recently, a decades-old Oprah Winfrey tape raising allegations of domestic abuse by his ex-wife resurfaced, though those allegations had been withdrawn.

“After careful consideration and discussions with my family, I am withdrawing my nomination for Secretary of Labor,” Puzder said in a statement.

Puzder’s withdrawal came one day before his scheduled confirmation hearing.

At least seven Republican senators, including Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, declined to publicly back Puzder in advance of the confirmation hearing.

For weeks now, Republican senators have been telling Senator John Cornyn, the second-highest ranking Republican, that they believed some of their colleagues would join Collins and Murkowski in opposing Puzder, according to a senior Senate Republican aide.

DEMOCRATS CHEER

The Labor Department oversees compliance with federal laws that mandate safe working conditions, a minimum hourly wage, overtime wages, and prohibit employment discrimination.

As labor secretary, Puzder would have shaped the department’s approach to these issues, including whether to defend an Obama administration rule expanding overtime pay to millions of workers that has been challenged in the courts.

Earlier this month, Puzder admitted he and his wife had employed an undocumented person as a housekeeper and had to pay back taxes as a result.

Workers at some of CKE’s restaurants have filed claims in recent weeks alleging they were victims of wage theft or victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Another possible problem were allegations dating back to 1986 that Puzder had physically abused his now ex-wife, Lisa Henning, now known as Lisa Fierstein.

Fierstein filed for divorce in 1987 and later retracted her allegations, but not before appearing anonymously as a victim of domestic abuse on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Last week, the OWN Network released a copy of that tape to the Senate committee so both Democratic and Republican members could view it, according to an aide.

Democrats on Wednesday cheered over the news of Puzder’s withdrawal.

“From the start, it’s been clear that Puzder is uniquely unqualified to serve as secretary of labor,” said Patty Murray, the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

(Additional reporting by Timothy Ahmann, Richard Cowan, Robert Iafolla and Amanda Becker; Editing by Linda Stern and Leslie Adler)

IMAGE: Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, takes part in a panel discussion titled “Understanding the Post-Recession Consumer” at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California  April 30, 2012.  REUTERS/Fred Prouser

Elizabeth Warren Forcefully Challenges Trump’s Labor Nominee

Elizabeth Warren Forcefully Challenges Trump’s Labor Nominee

Reprinted with permission form AlterNet.

Elizabeth Warren has set the table for Andrew Puzder, the burger chain executive and Secretary of Labor nominee, with a blistering 28-page letter outlining the likely line of Democratic questioning in this Thursday’s confirmation hearings.

Warren’s letter widens the attack on Puzder beyond his record as CEO of CKE, a privately held company that owns the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s fast-food chains, to a broader indictment of Trump policies for the American workforce. While Warren cites Puzder’s much-quoted preference for robots over human workers, the Massachusetts senator also challenges Trump’s likely efforts to weaken the federal overtime, paid sick leave, and minimum wage rules, as well as regulation of retirement advisers and the ongoing investigation of Wells Fargo’s fraudulent sales activities.

While Trump built his presidential campaign on defense of American workers, Warren’s letter illustrates several ways Puzder’s nomination will pit the reality against the rhetoric.

Fiduciary Duty

Warren will challenge Puzder to clarify a Feb. 3 Trump memorandum on the so-called Fiduciary Duty rule requiring retirement advisers to act in their clients’ best interest. The rule, promulgated by the Obama administration after years of public comment, is set to go into effect April 8.

The Obama regulation is already having a positive effect, Warren points out in the letter.

“Major financial institutions such as Fidelity, Charles Schwab, BlackRock, and others have announced they are slashing fees for their funds,” she writes. Bank of America and Merrill Lynch say they will no longer offer investment advisory services on a commission basis—an incentive to put the salesperson’s interests ahead of the retiree’s.

Warren wants Puzder to disclose who is behind the effort to delay or rescind the Fiduciary Duty regulation. She notes that CKE’s retirement plan was “riddled with high-fee investments and low participation rates.”

Sexual Harassment

Citing a Capital and Main study finding Carl’s and Hardee’s have been hit by more federal discrimination lawsuits than any other national burger chains, Warren asks Puzder if he will keep an updated 2016 Obama anti-discrimination regulation that protects workers against a sexually hostile work environment, and discrimination based on pregnancy and transgender status.

Mandatory Overtime Pay

Warren notes that 22 percent of Americans work for federal contractors. In return for government contracts, those companies have to comply with laws protecting workers, including mandatory overtime. Puzder opposed the Obama administration’s overtime rule, which requires federal contractors to pay overtime to anyone making less than $47,500 a year.

Warren cited the video testimony of Laura McDonald, a manager at Carl’s Jr. from 1998 to 2012, who says the chain made it impossible for her to do her job unless she worked “off the clock.”

Warren wants to know if Puzder will advise Trump to keep or dump mandatory overtime pay, which she says helps boost the wages of 4.2 million workers.

Federal Minimum Wage

Thanks to another Obama regulation, federal contractors have to pay a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour, giving a wage boost to some 200,000 workers. Will Puzder advise Trump to dump or keep the executive order on the federal minimum wage?

With Puzder’s nomination, Senate Democrats face the same daunting challenge they did with other Trump Cabinet choices: persuading at least three Senate Republicans to break ranks. In the confirmation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Democrats got two GOP converts: senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who are now being lobbied by Puzder supporters, according to The Hill.

Jefferson Morley is AlterNet’s Washington correspondent.

IMAGE: U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) shows company documents to Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf during his testimony before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the firm’s sales practices on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 20, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

Labor Nominee Puzder Faces Uncertainty As Confirmation Hearing Looms

Labor Nominee Puzder Faces Uncertainty As Confirmation Hearing Looms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Four U.S. Republican senators have not yet said whether they will support labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder, raising suspense about whether he will survive an initial confirmation hearing this week.

The four senators – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Johnny Isakson of Georgia – all sit on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which will on Thursday hold the first confirmation hearing for Puzder, President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Labor Department.

Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which franchises restaurants, including Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, has faced staunch opposition from Democrats and protests from union-backed groups about policies at CKE’s food chains. Along with now-confirmed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, he has been one of Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks.

Through statements and spokespeople on Monday, the four Republican senators indicated they have some outstanding questions for Puzder, but stressed they had not made a final decision. They would not say whether they had specific concerns.

If a committee majority backs Puzder’s nomination, he will come up for a vote before the full, Republican-controlled Senate, where his confirmation could only be derailed if at least three Republicans break with their party.

Puzder’s committee hearing has been postponed several times amid delays with his ethics paperwork.

Fast food worker advocates say they are concerned about his prior criticism of an overtime rule proposed by the Obama administration and his opposition to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour from the current $7.25 rate. Puzder’s nomination has sparked protests by workers who allege CKE has stolen their wages and violated other labor laws at Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. locations around the country.

Puzder has also come under fire for racy restaurant ads featuring bikini-clad women eating burgers, and for his admission to previously hiring an undocumented worker.

In addition, a non-profit group plans to ask a Missouri court on Tuesday to unseal Puzder’s divorce records, after the news media reported on old court records in which Puzder’s ex-wife accused him of physical abuse.

Puzder has denied those allegations, and his ex-wife has since retracted them.

Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Charles Schumer, are expected to vigorously oppose Puzder’s nomination, and Schumer has repeatedly called on Puzder to withdraw his name from consideration.

But the 48 senators who caucus with the Democrats can only defeat him if they are able to convince three Republicans. Last week, both Collins and Murkowski joined with Democrats to oppose DeVos’ nomination, but Vice President Mike Pence was called in to break the tie and she was confirmed.

“I’ve had two conversations with Mr. Puzder. I think there are outstanding questions that I’m sure will be delved into at his hearing,” Collins said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Murkowski said the senator “wants to know more” about Puzder, while a spokesman for Isakson said he is “taking all the facts under consideration before making his decision.”

A spokeswoman for Scott said he has consistently declined to comment on all nominees in advance of their hearing.

Puzder, meanwhile, has no plans to withdraw his name from consideration, according to his spokesman George Thompson.

“Andy is so looking forward to his hearing. He will finally have an opportunity to express his commitment to workers and to businesses and to ensure that folks know his true record for protecting workers and creating jobs,” Thompson said.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Amanda Becker; Editing by Mary Milliken)

IMAGE: Andrew Puzder speaking at the 2016 FreedomFest at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nevada. Flickr / Gage Skidmore