Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee, vowed Thursday that President-elect Trump’s pick to head the Labor Department, fast-food businessman Andy Puzder, would get a “vigorous and thorough” confirmation hearing.
The announcement by the Washington senator indicates that Democrats hope to make Puzder a lightning rod for controversy.
Murray made the announcement during a conference call hosted by the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund. Puzder is the president of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. franchises, and a top economic adviser for Trump. Murray said Puzder “will have to explain” the labor practices of his company, which others on the conference call accused of exploiting workers.
“He has used his position to enrich himself at the expense of working people,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. He argued that CKE Restaurants, and the fast-food industry in general, engages in “wage theft” by providing substandard wages and limiting overtime pay. Trumka called on Puzder to release internal company documents relating to its franchiser-franchisee agreements.
Saru Jayaraman, president of Restaurant Opportunities Center United, a liberal activist group, said it was collecting “thousands” of statements from workers charging abusive behavior by restaurant managers.
Franchisees are typically privately owned businesses that rent out the corporate franchiser’s brand to get the benefit of its public recognition. Until recently, any labor law violations by a franchisee would have been strictly a matter for that one business. The Obama administration has attempted to change that and has pushed for a broader legal standard that would make franchisers more legally responsible for labor violations at their franchisee restaurants, a move applauded by labor unions.
Puzder is widely expected to stop the Labor Department’s efforts on that issue.
