ALBANY, NY Dec. 8, 2016 - New York State United Teachers President Karen E. Magee - on behalf of the statewide union and its officers - today issued the following statement regarding President-elect Trump’s selection of Andrew Puzder to lead the U.S. Department of Labor:
“Andrew Puzder’s nomination is an affront to every working person in America. His history of anti-worker policies flies in the face of the Labor Department’s mission to help the nation’s working people. And, his corporatist philosophies and opposition to public policies aimed at improving the lives of struggling Americans - if allowed to be enacted nationwide - would run counter to the promises by the President-elect to help the nation’s lower-income workers. Puzder’s nomination poses a real danger to the American workforce.”
Puzder - as head of the corporation that owns the Carl’s Junior and Hardees fast-food restaurant franchises - has fiercely opposed raising the minimum wage, which would lift millions of working Americans out of poverty. He also has proposed replacing human workers with robots, has outsourced jobs overseas, hired union-busting law firms to keep workers from organizing and has been an ardent opponent of the Affordable Care Act, which has provided health coverage to 20 million Americans.
“Puzder’s nomination underscores the reason NYSUT is committed to defending workers against individuals whose philosophies and policy positions would threaten workers’ rights, public education and health care. Rest assured our union will remain vigilant and its voice will be heard.”
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.
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