{"id":18131,"date":"2021-03-28T12:39:46","date_gmt":"2021-03-28T19:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=18131"},"modified":"2021-03-28T12:39:49","modified_gmt":"2021-03-28T19:39:49","slug":"fast-food-giant-claims-credit-for-killing-15-minimum-wage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/03\/28\/fast-food-giant-claims-credit-for-killing-15-minimum-wage\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast Food Giant Claims Credit For Killing $15 Minimum Wage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In internal company documents, a private-equity owned conglomerate is bragging to its employees about successfully blocking a boost in pay for low-wage workers.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Walker Bragman<\/a>,\u00a0Andrew Perez<\/a>, and\u00a0David Sirota<\/a>
March 27, 2021 (The Daily Poster)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Photo credit: Mladen Antonov, Saul Loeb, Rick Diamond, and Mario Tama\/Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

This report was written by Walker Bragman, Andrew Perez, and David Sirota.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parent company of some of America\u2019s largest fast food chains is claiming credit for convincing Congress to exclude a $15 minimum wage from the recent COVID relief bill, according to internal company documents reviewed by The Daily Poster<\/em>. The company, which is owned by a private equity firm named after an Ayn Rand character, also says it is now working to thwart new union rights legislation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company\u2019s boasts come just a few months after a government report<\/a> found that some of its chains had among the highest percentage of workers relying on food stamps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspire Brands \u2014 which owns Jimmy Johns, Arby\u2019s, Sonic, and Buffalo Wild Wings, plus recently acquired<\/a> Dunkin\u2019 Donuts for $11.3 billion in November<\/a> \u2014 on Thursday sent employees and franchisees a review of its government lobbying activity that highlighted its success in keeping the $15 minimum wage out of Democrats\u2019 American Rescue Plan, the COVID-19 relief bill President Joe Biden signed earlier this month<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were successful in our advocacy efforts to remove the Raise the Wage Act, which would have increased the federal minimum wage to $15 and eliminated the tip credit,\u201d reads the report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further down, the report notes the company\u2019s ongoing lobbying campaign in the Senate against the PRO Act<\/a>, which recently passed the House and contains a laundry list of organized labor\u2019s goals, such as eliminating right-to-work laws and banning<\/a> mandatory company-sponsored meetings that are designed to discourage union activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder this proposed rule, franchisors could be considered the direct employer of the franchise owners in their system, as well as the restaurant workers those owners employ, taking away the independence of small business owners,\u201d the document said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou get the impression that they\u2019re actively spitting in our eye, saying \u2018Yes, we worked to suppress wages of our employees and we\u2019re just going to brazenly tell you,\u2019\u201d one Inspire Brands worker told The Daily Poster<\/em>. \u201cI really do think that a line was crossed. You\u2019re just going to brazenly tell your employees, \u2018not only did we work to kill wages, but going forward we\u2019re also going to make sure that the PRO Act doesn\u2019t pass either.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspire Brands did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government Report On Low Wages Spotlighted Inspire Brands\u2019 Companies<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

During the 2020 campaign, Democrats pledged to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, which would boost the wages of 32 million<\/a> workers nationwide, according to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, efforts to include a $15 minimum wage in Biden\u2019s pandemic aid bill failed after the Senate parliamentarian advised Democrats such a hike should not be passed by budget reconciliation and Vice President Kamala Harris declined to use her authority<\/a> to override the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspire Brands\u2019 success in eliminating the minimum wage hike from the bill follows Dunkin\u2019 Brands\u2019 then-CEO Nigel Travis saying in 2015 that a $15 wage<\/a> would be \u201cabsolutely outrageous.\u201d At the time, unions<\/a> noted that Travis was being paid more than $4,000 every hour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minimum wage defeat also follows an October 2020 report<\/a> from the Government Accountability Office finding that low-wage workers at Dunkin\u2019 Donuts, Arby\u2019s, and Sonic were among those relying most heavily on food stamps in states where those franchises operate. In 2019, some Sonic workers walked off the job<\/a> in Ohio in protest of low pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While paying many of its workers below $15<\/a>, Inspire Brands\u2019 franchises are generating $26 billion<\/a> in annual revenue and enriching top executives. The founder of Jimmy John\u2019s \u2014 which has been accused<\/a> of busting worker union drives \u2014 recently boasted on his website<\/a> that he was named one of the planet\u2019s wealthiest men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the year before Inspire acquired his company, Dunkin\u2019 Brands\u2019 CEO was paid millions<\/a> and then made millions more<\/a> when the deal closed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In government filings<\/a> that year, Dunkin\u2019 Brands warned investors about the prospect of low-wage workers being paid better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA significant number of our franchisees\u2019 food-service employees are paid at rates related to the U.S. federal minimum wage and applicable minimum wages in foreign jurisdictions and past increases in the U.S. federal minimum wage and foreign jurisdiction minimum wage have increased labor costs, as would future such increases,\u201d the company wrote. \u201cAny increases in labor costs might result in franchisees inadequately staffing restaurants. Understaffed restaurants could reduce sales at such restaurants, decrease royalty payments, and adversely affect our brands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company also bragged that \u201cnone of our employees are represented by a labor union, and we believe our relationships with our employees are healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur Name Signifies Our Admiration For The Qualities Embodied By Howard Roark\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Inspire Brands is majority owned<\/a> by Roark Capital \u2014 a $23 billion private equity giant named after the self-centered protagonist of Ayn Rand novel The Fountainhead<\/em>, which is considered a foundational conservative text for the defense of billionaires and economic inequality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur name signifies our admiration for the qualities embodied by Howard Roark,\u201d the firm says on its website. \u201cWe are committed to being a good partner in good times, and an even better partner in bad times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donors from Roark-linked companies delivered more than $800,000 of campaign contributions in the 2020 election cycle, mostly to Republicans, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several state and local retirement systems have invested public employees\u2019 retirement savings in the Roark funds involved<\/a> in Inspire Brands\u2019 takeover of Dunkin\u2019 Brands last year, including the Oregon State Treasury<\/a>, the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System<\/a>, and the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its filings<\/a> with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Roark advised investors that \u201cportfolio companies of the type targeted\u201d by the firm can be \u201cadversely affected by changes in governmental policies\u201d including the minimum wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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In internal company documents, a private-equity owned conglomerate is bragging to its employees about successfully blocking a boost in pay for low-wage workers. Walker Bragman,\u00a0Andrew Perez, and\u00a0David Sirota March 27, 2021 (The Daily Poster) Photo credit: Mladen Antonov, Saul Loeb, Rick Diamond, and Mario Tama\/Getty Images This report was written… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18131"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18131"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18133,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18131\/revisions\/18133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}