December, 08 2016, 01:45pm EDT
Statement From the Fight for $15 on Expected Nomination of Andy Puzder as Labor Secretary
In response to reports that Donald Trump will nominate Andy Puzder as U.S. Secretary of Labor, the Fight for $15 released the following statement from Carl's Jr. cook Rogelio Hernandez from Santa Monica, Calif. and Hardee's cashier Lacretia Jones from Richmond, Va.:
WASHINGTON
In response to reports that Donald Trump will nominate Andy Puzder as U.S. Secretary of Labor, the Fight for $15 released the following statement from Carl's Jr. cook Rogelio Hernandez from Santa Monica, Calif. and Hardee's cashier Lacretia Jones from Richmond, Va.:
"Putting one of the worst fast-food CEOs in charge of national labor policy sends a signal to workers that the Trump years are going to be about low pay, wage theft, sexual harassment and racial discrimination. Instead of taking on the rigged economy, it seems like Trump wants to rig it up even more. Puzder is paid more in one day than we each make in one year working at his restaurant chains, and that's the way he wants to keep it. Puzder is against unions, calls the minimum wage and overtime 'restrictions' and employees 'extra cost,' and even said he wants to fire workers like us and replace us with machines that can't take vacations or sue their employers when they break the law. It doesn't matter who the labor secretary is, the Fight for $15 won't back down for one minute in our demands for $15 an hour and union rights for all workers. If Trump is going to be a President for the fast food corporations instead of for the fast food workers he is going to be on the wrong side of history."
Fast food workers are coming together all over the country to fight for $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation. We work for corporations that are making tremendous profits, but do not pay employees enough to support our families and to cover basic needs like food, health care, rent and transportation.
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Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
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Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
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