This fast food giant bragged about killing $ 15 of the minimum wage

This story is co-published with The Daily Poster

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 COVID’s recent relief bill, according to revised internal company documents per The Daily Poster. The company, which belongs to a private equity firm in honor of a character from Ayn Rand, also says it is now working to thwart the new union rights legislation.

The company’s protests came just months after a government report found that some of its networks had the highest percentage of workers who depended on food stamps.

Inspire Brands – which owns Jimmy Johns, Arby’s, Sonic and Buffalo Wild Wings, and recently acquired Dunkin ‘Donuts for $ 11.3 billion in November – sent employees and franchisees a review of their activity on Thursday from the government lobby that highlighted his success in keeping the $ 15 minimum wage out of the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan, the COVID-19 relief bill that President Joe Biden signed earlier this month.

“We were successful in our advocacy efforts to remove the Raise the Wage Act, which would have raised the federal minimum wage to $ 15 and eliminated tipping credit,” says the report.

Further down, the report looks at the company’s ongoing Senate lobbying campaign against the PRO Act, which was recently passed by the House and contains a list of organized labor objectives, such as eliminating labor rights laws and banning company-sponsored meetings. mandatory measures to discourage union activity.

“Under this proposed rule, franchisors can be considered the direct employer of franchise owners in their system, as well as the restaurant workers that those owners employ, taking away the independence of small business owners,” the document said.

“You have the impression that they are actively spitting in our eyes, saying ‘Yes, we work to suppress our employees’ salaries and we will just tell you shamelessly,'” said an Inspire Brands employee. The Daily Poster. “I really think a limit has been exceeded. You will just blatantly say to your employees, ‘Not only do we work to kill wages, but going forward we will also ensure that the PRO Act does not pass anyone.'”

Inspire Brands did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Highlighted government report on low wages Inspire Brands’ Companies

During the 2020 campaign, Democrats pledged to raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour, which would increase the wages of 32 million workers across the country, according to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) ).

However, efforts to include a $ 15 minimum wage in the Biden pandemic aid bill failed after the Senate parliamentarian informed Democrats that such an increase should not be approved by budgetary reconciliation and Vice President Kamala Harris refused to use his authority to overturn the decision.

Inspire Brands ‘success in eliminating the minimum wage increase from the account follows then Dunkin’ Brands CEO Nigel Travis, who said in 2015 that a $ 15 salary would be “absolutely outrageous”. At the time, unions noted that Travis was earning more than $ 4,000 an hour.

The defeat of the minimum wage also follows an October 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office finding that low-wage workers in Dunkin ‘Donuts, Arby’s and Sonic were among those who depend most heavily on food stamps in states where these franchises operate. In 2019, some Sonic workers quit their job in Ohio to protest low wages.

While paying many of its employees less than $ 15, Inspire Brands franchises are generating $ 26 billion in annual revenue and enriching top executives. Jimmy John’s founder – who has been accused of breaking workers’ union initiatives – recently boasted on his website that he was named one of the richest men on the planet.

In the year before Inspire’s acquisition of the company, Dunkin’s CEO ‘Brands’ received millions and earned millions more when the deal was closed.

In government documents that year, Dunkin ‘Brands warned investors about the prospect of low-income workers receiving better wages.

“A significant number of our franchisees’ food service employees are paid at rates related to the US federal minimum wage and minimum wages applicable in foreign jurisdictions and previous increases in the US federal minimum wage and the minimum wage in foreign jurisdiction have increased labor costs, such as future increases, “wrote the company. “Any increases in labor costs can result in franchisees improperly hiring restaurants. Understaffed restaurants can reduce sales at such restaurants, decrease royalty payments and adversely affect our brands.”

The company also boasted that “none of our employees are represented by a union and we believe that our relations with our employees are healthy”.

“Our name means our admiration for the qualities personified by Howard Roark”

Inspire Brands is mostly controlled by Roark Capital – a $ 23 billion private equity giant named after the self-centered protagonist of Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead, which is considered a fundamental conservative text for the defense of billionaires and economic inequality.

“Our name means our admiration for the qualities embodied by Howard Roark,” says the company on its website. “We are committed to being a good partner in good times and an even better partner in bad times.”

Donors from companies linked to Roark delivered more than $ 800,000 in campaign contributions in the 2020 electoral cycle, mainly to Republicans, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets.

Several state and local retirement systems invested the retirement savings of civil servants in the Roark funds involved in the acquisition of Dunkin ‘Brands by Inspire Brands last year, including the Oregon State Treasury, the Maryland State Pension and Retirement System and the City of Los Angeles Employees’ Retirement System.

In his filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Roark warned investors that “portfolio companies of the type targeted” by the company may be “adversely affected by changes in government policies”, including the minimum wage.