They say the Devil's in the details, but you don't need all the
gibberish to know where the Devil really is. He's in the mansion, in
the counting house counting out His money.
It's a War. Choose your side, but remember, when all the dust and BS
has settled, you will be on one side or the other.. No fence
straddling.
Carl Jarvis
On 3/28/21, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Fast Food Giant Claims Credit for Killing $15 Minimum Wage
By Walker Bragman, Andrew Perez, and David Sirota, The Daily Poster
27 March 21
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.
The parent company of some of America's 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. 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.
The company's boasts come just a few months after a government report found
that some of its chains had among the highest percentage of workers relying
on food stamps.
Inspire Brands - which owns Jimmy Johns, Arby's, Sonic, and Buffalo Wild
Wings, plus recently acquired Dunkin' Donuts for $11.3 billion in November
-
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' American Rescue Plan, the COVID-19 relief bill
President Joe Biden signed earlier this month.
"We 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," reads the report.
Further down, the report notes the company's ongoing lobbying campaign in
the Senate against the PRO Act, which recently passed the House and
contains
a laundry list of organized labor's goals, such as eliminating
right-to-work
laws and banning mandatory company-sponsored meetings that are designed to
discourage union activity.
"Under 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," the document said.
"You get the impression that they're actively spitting in our eye, saying
'Yes, we worked to suppress wages of our employees and we're just going to
brazenly tell you,'" one Inspire Brands worker told The Daily Poster. "I
really do think that a line was crossed. You're just going to brazenly tell
your employees, 'not only did we work to kill wages, but going forward
we're
also going to make sure that the PRO Act doesn't pass either.'"
Inspire Brands did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Government Report On Low Wages Spotlighted Inspire Brands' Companies
During the 2020 campaign, Democrats pledged to raise the minimum wage to
$15
an hour, which would boost the wages of 32 million workers nationwide,
according to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
However, efforts to include a $15 minimum wage in Biden's 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 to override the decision.
Inspire Brands' success in eliminating the minimum wage hike from the bill
follows Dunkin' Brands' then-CEO Nigel Travis saying in 2015 that a $15
wage
would be "absolutely outrageous." At the time, unions noted that Travis was
being paid more than $4,000 every hour.
The minimum wage defeat also follows an October 2020 report from the
Government Accountability Office finding that low-wage workers at Dunkin'
Donuts, Arby's, 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 in Ohio in protest of low pay.
While paying many of its workers below $15, Inspire Brands' franchises are
generating $26 billion in annual revenue and enriching top executives. The
founder of Jimmy John's - which has been accused of busting worker union
drives - recently boasted on his website that he was named one of the
planet's wealthiest men.
In the year before Inspire acquired his company, Dunkin' Brands' CEO was
paid millions and then made millions more when the deal closed.
In government filings that year, Dunkin' Brands warned investors about the
prospect of low-wage workers being paid better.
"A significant number of our franchisees' 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," the company wrote. "Any 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."
The company also bragged that "none of our employees are represented by a
labor union, and we believe our relationships with our employees are
healthy."
"Our Name Signifies Our Admiration For The Qualities Embodied By Howard
Roark"
Inspire Brands is majority owned by Roark Capital - a $23 billion private
equity giant named after the self-centered protagonist of Ayn Rand novel
The
Fountainhead, which is considered a foundational conservative text for the
defense of billionaires and economic inequality.
"Our name signifies our admiration for the qualities embodied by Howard
Roark," the firm says on its website. "We are committed to being a good
partner in good times, and an even better partner in bad times."
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.
Several state and local retirement systems have invested public employees'
retirement savings in the Roark funds involved in Inspire Brands' takeover
of Dunkin' Brands last year, including the Oregon State Treasury, the
Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, and the Los Angeles City
Employees' Retirement System.
In its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Roark advised
investors that "portfolio companies of the type targeted" by the firm can
be
"adversely affected by changes in governmental policies" including the
minimum wage.