For Labor Secretary Trump Picks Fast Food CEO Who Opposes Minimum Wage Hikes, Prefers Robots

Machines ‘Never Take a Vacation’

Donald Trump has chosen the CEO of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. To become his Secretary of Labor. Andy Puzder (video above, from 2015) is well-known in the business community for opposing increases to the minimum wage, and preferring robots or machines to people.

“In his frequent op-ed and cable news commentaries, Puzder has championed every aspect of right-wing trickle-down economics. Rolling back taxation and regulation for the rich and corporations will lift the economy, he’s argued, as will getting rid of all those minimum-wage hikes,” The American Prospect reports.

Puzder last year “made more in one day ($17,192) than one of his full-time minimum wage workers would make in a year ($15,130),” The American Prospect profile notes, citing a report at TalkPoverty. “Yet Puzder opposes any increase to the minimum wage, believes that workers are kept in poverty because of government assistance programs, and thinks expanding access to overtime pay would diminish the prestige of entry-level management jobs.”

Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. Are subsidiaries of CKE, which Puydzer runs as CEO. He has said he’d like to get rid of human workers altogether. 

“We could have a restaurant that’s focused on all-natural products and is much like an Eatsa, where you order on a kiosk, you pay with a credit or debit card, your order pops up, and you never see a person,” Pudzer told Business Insider in March. Machines, he said, 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.” 

CBS News confirms Puzder’s strong opposition to wage hikes, reporting that “Puzder has argued that a higher minimum wage cuts profitability, forces businesses to cut jobs and increases reliance on automation. Another assertion he’s made is that raising the minimum wage does nothing structurally to break the cycle of poverty for the working poor.”

Fox News Business’ Stuart Varney, in announcing the news, noted that Puzder joins a long list of corporate executives appointed to Trump administration positions who are “regulars” on the Fox Business channel.