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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Kate Fried, kfried@fwwatch.org

Fast Food CEO Steps Down as Labor Nominee

Statement released by Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter

WASHINGTON

"Today, fast food mogul Andy Puzder announced he will bow out of the running to be Labor Secretary. The controversial CEO of Hardees and Carl's Jr. had attracted criticism from a wide range of groups opposed to his corporate ties and unsavory views on labor.

"Puzder is in no way qualified to set our nation's labor standards or to lift up our workers, and apparently even he knows that. Puzder opposes the minimum wage and rules to protect workers. Installing him as Labor Secretary would have had extremely negative consequences for the safety of poultry workers and USDA inspectors who have had to endure intolerable conditions in plants that have been under investigation by OSHA.

"The Department of Labor should be just that--a voice for America's workers, not America's corporations. Like the rest of Trump's cabinet, Puzder was an inappropriate choice. Of course, who the President taps to replace him is anyone's guess."

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.

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