Tuesday, January 31, 2017
On January 30, food and farm rights groups delivered a letter to U.S. Senators calling them to oppose the nomination of Andrew Puzder as Labor Secretary. ActionAid USA was among the 100+ organizations that signed the letter. Puzder, the CEO of the company that runs Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., has been known to violate labor laws. The text of the letter is below.
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
January 30, 2017
RE: Nomination of Andrew Puzder as Secretary of Labor Dear Senators:
Our organizations urge you to oppose the nomination of Andrew Puzder as Secretary of Labor. This nomination represents another in a string of Trump administration appointments that betrays the President-elect’s promise to improve the lives of working people.
As CEO of CKE Restaurants, which operates Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, Puzder’s nomination to an agency charged with protecting working people is rife with conflicts of interest. Puzder’s company has faced numerous Department of Labor violations for failing to pay the minimum wage or overtime: Sixty percent of inspections of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants found labor law violations and Puzder has opposed both raising the minimum wage and enforcement of overtime rules and mandatory sick leave. Puzder’s confirmation would ensure that the interests of the fast food industry—and its large meat and food industry suppliers—would prevail over the needs of hard-working people in the food system who face some of the highest rates of food insecurity due to low wages and poor working conditions.
Contrary to what Puzder and other corporate leaders at the National Restaurant Association say about good working conditions in the restaurant sector, the majority of restaurant workers are women and people of color, making as little as $2.13 per hour and rely on tips to survive. These workers face disproportionate rates of poverty, discrimination, and sexual harassment and deserve a Labor Secretary who believes that, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “All labor has dignity.” Instead, with the National Restaurant Association’s champion heading the Department of Labor, workers will have to rely on vocal opponents of labor regulations to protect their basic workplace rights.
On behalf of the many people and groups who are working for a better food system that provides nutritious food and livable wages and treats the land, farmers, and animals with respect, we the undersigned urge you to oppose the nomination of Andrew Puzder to Labor Secretary.
Puzder would be yet one more nominee working for the interests of big business over the interests of working people.
Signed,
ActionAid USA
African American Cultural Center (US)
Agricultural Justice Project
Alliance for Fair Food Beyond Pesticides
Black Community, Clergy and Labor Alliance (BCCLA)
Black Urban Growers
Brandworkers
Brighter Green
California Institute for Rural Studies
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Food Safety
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Center for Urban Education for Sustainable Agriculture
Climate Justice Alliance
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
CoFED
Common Ground Community
Community Alliance for Global Justice
Community Food and Justice Coalition
Compassion in World Farming
Corporate Accountability International
Dakota Resource Council
Domestic Fair Trade Association
Earthjustice
El Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas, The Farmworkers’ Support Committee
Family Farm Defenders
Farm Forward
Farmworker Association of Florida
Farmworker Justice
Food & Water Watch
Food Chain Workers Alliance
Food Democracy Now!
Food Empowerment Project
Food First
Food Shift
Food Tank
Foodstand
Foundation Earth
Friends of the Earth
GMO Inside
Grassroots Gardens WNY
Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
Green America HEAL Food Alliance
Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
Health Care Without Harm
Idle No More Duluth
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
International Labor Rights Forum
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
Just Food
Land Stewardship Project
Laundry Workers Center
Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, Teachers College, Columbia University
Lucid Food
Midwest Pesticide Action Center
MomsRising.org
National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice
National Black Food & Justice Alliance
National Family Farm Coalition
National Young Farmers Coalition
Natural Resources Defense Council
NC Environmental Justice Network
New Mexico Public Health Association
Ninjas for Health
North American Climate, Conservation and Environment
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York
Northwest Arkansas Workers Justice Center
Nutiva
Organic Consumers Association
Other Worlds
People’s Climate Movement NY
People’s Grocery
Pesticide Action Network
Phat Beets Produce
Pioneer Valley Workers Center
Real Food Challenge
Real Food for Kids
Real Food Media
ROC United
RootDown LA
Roots of Change
Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural
Sacramento Food Policy Council
Slow Food California
Slow Food Chicago
Slow Food USA
Small Planet Institute
Soil Generation
South Agassiz Resource Council
Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California
Springfield Food Policy Council
Student/Farmworker Alliance
Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville (SAL)
Toxic Taters
Treasure Valley Food Coalition
Union of Concerned Scientists
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
US Food Sovereignty Alliance
Warehouse Worker Resource Center
Warehouse Workers for Justice
WhyHunger
Workers’ Center of Central New York
Young Workers United