WHO’S ATTACKING ANDY PUZDER? VOL. 1: Union Protesting Puzder Has Long Record Of Labor Violations

Instead of lobbing baseless charges at a respected industry leader, the big labor bosses at SEIU should first focus on getting their own house in order

February 13, 2017

Today, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is orchestrating more than two dozen “militant” protests against Labor Secretary Andy Puzder, attacking his company, CKE Restaurants, and its franchisees for its labor record. However, as the Washington Examiner made clear in a report last week, federal data shows CKE actually has “one of the best records in the industry” on worker rights:

The critics, including Democratic lawmakers and organized labor, argue that CKE’s record shows that Puzder wouldn’t do a good job. That claim isn’t borne out by data from the Labor Department’s Wage & Hour Division on franchise fast-food restaurants. …

The average labor violate rate for Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. was 1.8 percent … That’s below the rate for franchises with a comparable number of total restaurants such as Arby’s (3.2 percent) and Papa John’s (2.5 percent). CKE’s rate was also below that of the larger chains: McDonald’s had a rate of 2.9 percent, Dunkin’ Donuts had 3.2 percent and Domino’s had 2.2 percent. 

Overall, 474 violations were found at the combined 2,927 Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., restaurants since 2009, meaning that violations were found on average at about 16 percent of the locations. The industry average for that is 56 percent, giving CKE one of the best records in the industry.

It’s even more outrageous these unsubstantiated attacks against Puzder would come from SEIU, which has a long record of violating the labor rights of its own members, according to data from the NLRB. Indeed, SEIU has been accused by their own members of committing a slew of these violations in just the past two years. See the below summaries and case numbers for just a few examples of cases filed against the union with the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB):

• The union representing the SEIU staff filed a charge against the SEIU alleging the SEIU restrained and coerced employees by refusing to process grievances and refusing to negotiate medical benefits for arbitrary, discriminatory reasons or in bad faith.

13-CB-172856 – 3/30/16

 

• Accepted dues unlawfully deducted from paychecks of represented employees without proper authorizations.

20-CB-177574 – 6/2/16

 

• Made misrepresentations to employees regarding negotiations with employer.

Detroit/Case No. unavailable   – 6/6/16

• Threatened, intimidated, bullied and harassed employee to such extent it caused him to resign; made false accusations in effort to have him disciplined/fired.

19-CB-181947 – 8/8/16

• Published false and defamatory statements about the employer and management.

13-CB-150287 – 4/15/15

• Misleading employees about matters related to union election.

5-CB-151380 – 5/1/15

These complaints are just the tip of the iceberg: Additional complaints against SEIU accuse the union of discriminating against employees for not joining the union or paying dues, while others charge the SEIU of violating a number of non-labor related laws that are just as egregious:

SEIU Labor Complaints – 2016 by AR Squared on Scribd

Instead of lobbing baseless charges at a respected industry leader, the big labor bosses at SEIU should first focus on getting their own house in order.