Wages
U.S. Senate – Senator Bernie Sanders introduced legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $17/hr. Sanders made the announcement outside the U.S. Capitol where he was flanked by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry, and Economic Policy Institute President Heidi Shierholz. Sanders, who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said that he would prepare the legislation for a floor vote next month. Chances for final passage are unlikely. More details.
Louisiana – A house committee defeated legislation to establish a state minimum wage of $10/hr and ultimately to $14/hr by 2028. Louisiana does not currently have a state wage and follows the federal law. The party-line vote kills the issue for the remainder of the session. More details.
New York – The governor signed the state budget into law. In addition to funding state operations, it includes an increase in the minimum wage. The language calls for an increase in the New York City area by 50 cents each year until 2026, increasing base pay from $15/hr to $17/hr. North of Westchester County, the raise would increase from $14.20/hr to $16/hr by 2028. The change takes effect in 2024 and will be indexed to inflation once fully phased in. More details.
Paid Leave
Minnesota – The house passed amended legislation that would give workers up to 12 weeks paid family leave and up to an additional 12 weeks paid sick leave. The bill now moves to the senate floor. More details.
Labor Policy
NLRB – The agency issued a decision making it harder for employers to fire or discipline workers for misconduct that occurs during labor organizing activity. The decision reverses a Trump-era standard, which had made it easier for employers to fire or punish employees who made racist or sexist comments during union activities. The decision gives leeway to employees punished for misconduct that occurred during activity otherwise protected by the National Labor Relations Act, such as organizing, bargaining and other union activities. The Board’s single Republican member dissented the decision. More details.
Delivery
Indiana – The governor signed legislation prohibiting a third-party food delivery service from providing any services related to facilitating, processing, or delivering an online order for a covered establishment unless the covered establishment expressly agrees to allow the third-party food delivery service to provide those services. More details.
Sustainability
California – An additional senate committee will hear legislation next week that would require all companies earning at least $1 billion in annual revenue and doing business in the state to provide information on their global carbon footprints starting in 2026, including emissions from direct operations, energy use, and supply chains. The bill would be more stringent than the SEC’s proposed climate disclosure rule, which would only apply to publicly traded companies and wouldn’t require all of them to disclose supply-chain emissions also known as Scope 3. The disclosures would require third-party verification and would be handled by the California Air Resources Board, which would contract with a nonprofit organization to create a public database. The bill would allow the attorney general to bring civil action against non-compliant companies, a scaling back of the previous version’s proposed authority to levy fines for violations. It has already advanced out of two committees. More details.
Los Angeles County, CA – This week, the city’s single-use plastics ordinance went into effect for most restaurants and food facilities in unincorporated areas of the county. The ordinance, passed in 2022, requires that all single-use food-service containers, cups, dishes, and cutlery used by restaurants and other food facilities be recyclable or compostable. The ordinance also bans single-use food service items such as utensils, plates, and cups that are not compostable or recyclable as well as the use of “expanded polystyrene” foam (Styrofoam) products. It further requires that sit-down restaurants provide guests with reusable dishes and silverware. Single-use utensils may still be offered in conjunction with food delivery services, but only if a customer affirmatively chooses to request utensils in their order. Violations are deemed a public nuisance, and violators may be fined up to a maximum of $100 per day, to a maximum of $1,000 per year; the ordinance also allows for civil actions seeking injunctive relief as well as civil penalties of up to $1,000 for each day of the violation. More details.
Key Takeaways
- This week, the Economic Roundtable, a non-profit based in Los Angeles, released a “study” entitled, “Hungry Cooks: Poverty Wages and Homelessness in the Fast Food Industry”. The report, which was commissioned by the Service Employees Industrial Union (SEIU), states that fast food workers make up 11 percent of all homeless workers in California, 9 percent in Los Angeles County and 8 percent in the City of Los Angeles. It further states that “if the fast food industry provided sustaining pay and stable employment that enabled its workforce to remain housed, there would be 10,120 fewer homeless workers in California, 3,595 fewer homeless workers in Los Angeles County”. It concludes that these workers are the largest subset of the homeless population in the state. While these studies tend to have limited impacts on the overall conversation, this line of attack could be particularly effective as mayors across the country are fighting an epidemic of homelessness. The authors went so far as to call the industry a “poverty employer” – a moniker that could easily gain traction. Brands should pay close attention to this developing dialogue.
- This week, DiversityInc. released its annual report, the 2023 Top 50 Companies for Diversity, which assesses the performance of companies in six key areas of diversity and inclusion. The DiversityInc. rankings are based on company-submitted data in six key areas: leadership accountability, human capital diversity metrics, talent programs, workforce practices, supplier diversity and philanthropy. While the restaurant industry has arguably the most diverse workforce in the private sector, unfortunately not one restaurant company made the list. However, Denny’s was cited as a company that had made “noteworthy” strides. As the attack on the fundamental business model of the industry continues to escalate, the diversity disparity between the front lines of the industry and the management ranks is going to escalate as a significant talking point for industry detractors.
Podcast
Check out our Working Lunch podcast each week that includes further analysis into these legislative issues, policy, politics and much more. You can find Working Lunch on the Restaurant Business online website, SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify.