Each Trump nominee for a cabinet post has a public record of opposing the work of the agency he or she would oversee or has a financial stake in business regulated by the agency. Fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Labor, is one of the many foxes who, if confirmed, will be guarding the henhouses in the nation’s capital.

Puzder, the CEO of the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., has been an impassioned spokesperson for the rights and privileges of fast-food franchise owners, but could not be less suited to uphold the mission of the Department of Labor, which is “to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.”

Puzder, a six-figure donor to the Trump campaign, opposed President Obama’s efforts to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 from $7.25, where it’s been stuck since 2009. In addition to fighting that increase, Puzder opposes paid sick leave and the Affordable Care Act — all the things that would presumably give his workers a better life. To top it off, he approved TV commercials that disparage women. 

The Labor Department plays a vital role enforcing hundreds of laws and thousands of regulations governing workplaces. Among other things, the labor secretary oversees the federal apparatus that investigates violations of the minimum wage, overtime and worker-safety laws and regulations.

Yet in Puzder, we would have a cabinet secretary who will view all these issues through the lens of an employer — not from the perspective of the nation’s 125 million workers.