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Donald Trump has indicated his choice for Labor Secretary: Andrew Puzder. Never heard of him? Well here are a few tidbits from CNN's analysis.
CNN, December 9, 2016: Why Trump's labor secretary is an extreme contradiction
The contradiction is extreme: Opposition to workers' rights is bread and butter for Puzder. In his new role, Puzder would lead a team tasked with ensuring that employers adhere to basic labor standards. Meanwhile, Puzder's company, CKE Restaurants, parent company of the fast-food chains Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, among others, has been the target of class-action lawsuits alleging failure to fairly compensate managers for overtime.
And those suits may be the tip of the iceberg: When the current Labor Department conducted 4,000 investigations into the 20 largest fast-food brands, over half of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's restaurants had at least one wage-and-hour violation.
Puzder is another Trump billionaire who is paid more in one day ($17,192) than a minimum-wage worker makes in a year, yet he opposes any increase in the minimum wage. While Puzder likes to blame the government for any problems facing his workers, he seems to have nothing but contempt for them and their well being. For one, he would love to replace them with machines. "Machines are 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."
Carl's Jr. and Hardee's are also noteworthy for featuring bikini-clad models in racy TV ads devouring their hamburgers. It doesn't matter that many Americans see these ads as offensive and degrading to women, but for Trump's base of deplorable white men supporters, maybe this is seen as a plus.