CEO of Carl’s Jr. Said to Be Trump’s Pick for Labor Secretary

After weeks of swirling rumors, President-elect Donald Trump is expected to announce his pick for Labor Secretary any time now: It’s Andy Puzder, the CEO of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s parent company CKE Restaurants. Yes, the same Carl’s Jr. that’s infamous for its commercials featuring scantily-clad women feasting on giant burgers.

As Labor Secretary, Puzder would head up the Department of Labor, giving him major influence over laws involving workers and unions. As the Wall Street Journal notes, Puzder has been a vocal critic of Obamacare and “has argued against raising the federal minimum wage higher than $9 an hour.”

The CEO recently said in an interview with Business Insider that he wants to open a new restaurant concept that’s fully automated and free of human employees, because robots 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.”

Considering Trump’s well-documented passion for fast food, the move seemingly makes sense on a superficial level. Perhaps now he’ll eat Thickburgers aboard Air Force One, instead of feasting on buckets of KFC on his private jet as he’s done previously.

• Trump Expected to Name Fast-Food Executive Andy Puzder as Labor Secretary [WSJ]
• Carl’s Jr. CEO Wants to Open an Automated Restaurant Free of Humans [E]
• What President Donald Trump Will Mean for U.S. Food Policy [E]