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By Miriam Raftery
February 15, 2017 (Washington D.C.) – CNN reports that President Donald Trump’s nominee for Labor Secretary, Andrew Puzder, has been withdrawn due to growing opposition in Congress as well as from organized labor.
Puzder is CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns fast food chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. He has opposed key labor objectives such as raising minimum wage and has also drawn scrutiny for revelations that he employed an undocumented immigrant as housekeeper.
Multiple sources report that Puzder lacked the votes needed for confirmation by the Senate. Besides opposition from Democrats, CNN reports that h at least four Republican Senators opposed his nomination, and possibly as many as a dozen.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Puzder the “worse pick for Labor Secretary” "adding, "He does not belong anywhere near the Labor Department, let alone at the head of it. Puzder's disdain for the American worker, the very people he would be responsible for protecting, is second to none."
A press release from the United Farmworkers hailed the news, calling Puzder “unqualified” and “anti-Labor.” The labor union’s statement concludes, “We hope he chooses for his next nominee someone who believes in enforcing and abiding by the nation's labor laws.”
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