What's Happening To US Jobs? Where Andy Puzder, Trump’s Labor Pick, Stands On Automation, Minimum Wage And Hot Models

Andy Puzder, President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of labor, seems to be stuck in Senate confirmation limbo. His confirmation hearing was originally scheduled for Jan. 12. And then it was rescheduled. And rescheduled again. By now, two months after Trump first announced his nomination of Puzder, the hearing has been postponed four times — and it's been put off indefinitely.

The CEO of CKE Holdings, which owns Hardee's and Carl's Jr., will not have a hearing until he divests his assets from CKE. This means senators won't have a chance to publicly grill Puzder on his policy beliefs for the time being. In the meantime, here's what we do know about Puzder, based on his writing and interviews.

Puzder on automation:

"We could have a restaurant that's focused on all-natural products and is much like an Eatsa” — a restaurant where everything is automated — “where you order on a kiosk, you pay with a credit or debit card, your order pops up, and you never see a person."

and

"They're (Machines 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.” — from an interview with Business Insider, March 2016

Puzder on fast food workers

"In fast food, you sort of compete for the best of the worst. In other words, you're not getting the Microsoft guys. At Hardee's we were getting the worst of the worst. Nobody wanted to work at Hardee's. It was complicated to work there, we had to change our network systems, our menu was too complicated we had to simplify it." — from a 2011 speech

Puzder on protesters demanding $15 per hour minimum wage:

“These people should really think about what they’re doing. There are solutions to this problem, and increasing the minimum wage is not the best solution. If we are going to increase the minimum wage at all, we’ve got to keep a lower minimum wage for entry-level workers, or these people are just going to be shut out of the workforce….The [Congressional Budget Office] came out with a report last year that said you could raise the minimum wage to about $9 without much impact on jobs, and you probably could do that.” — from an interview with Fox Business, May 2016

Puzder on President Barack Obama’s regulations that would make more workers eligible for overtime pay:

“The real world is far different than the Labor Department’s Excel spreadsheet. This new rule will simply add to the extensive regulatory maze the Obama Administration has imposed on employers, forcing many to offset increased labor expense by cutting costs elsewhere. In practice, this means reduced opportunities, bonuses, benefits, perks and promotions.” — written in a Forbes op-ed, May 2016

Puzder on Obamacare:

“The burden these increased health-care costs place on working and middle-class Americans is inexcusable.” — written in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, October 2016

Puzder on women:

“We believe in putting hot models in our commercials, because ugly ones don’t sell burgers.” — from a 2011 press release