The decision by Labor Secretary-designate Andrew Puzder to step down before his confirmation hearing shows once more that workers’ voices need to count when our nation sets workplace rules, AFL-CIO President John Patrick said today.
“When working people speak up together, they can move mountains,” Patrick said. “Across the country, Andrew Puzder’s own fast-food employees, joined by millions of working people who understood the stakes, said ‘No!’ to President Trump’s choice of a Labor Secretary whose labor ideal is a roomful of robots.”
Patrick noted Puzder opposed a decent minimum wage, fair overtime rules, expanded health care and other basic kitchen-table needs of working families. In an administration that has made a top priority of instilling fear in immigrant workers, Puzder personally employed an undocumented housekeeper and failed to pay employment taxes in connection with her work. Workers in his fast-food restaurants spoke out about substandard working conditions they face every day.
“Many working people who criticized Andrew Puzder’s nomination referred to him in social media as the ‘Anti-Labor Secretary,’” Patrick noted. “We call on President Trump to nominate a leader who will put the ‘Labor’ in ‘Secretary of Labor’ – someone who understands that the voices of workers matter and that all workers should have a fair shot at success.”
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The Texas AFL-CIO is a state labor federation consisting of 237,000 affiliated union members who advocate for working families in Texas.
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