Wages
Seattle, WA – The city’s Office of Labor Standards has set the city’s new minimum wage for small and large employers to between $16.50 /hr and $18.69/hr effective Jan 1. The new $16.50 rate is for small employers who pay medical benefits or allow tips for employees. This is a 75 cent raise from the current $15.75/hr rate. The minimum for small employers who don’t pay for insurance, and for all large employers, is $18.69/hr. This is a $1.42 raise from the current $17.27 rate. The city defines a small employer as a business with fewer than 500 employees. More details.
Labor Policy
NLRB – The National Labor Relations Board voted to restore an Obama-era obligation on employers to not unilaterally halt dues deduction mechanisms that were in place prior to the end of a labor contract. As a result, employers cannot stop deducting workers’ union dues from their paychecks following the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement and must continue doing so until another agreement is reached. More details.
Study – The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) released a new study regarding escalating political tensions in the workplace. Their findings indicate about 1 in 4 workers, or 26 percent, said they have personally experienced differential treatment (positive and negative) because of their political views or affiliation. It also recorded a small uptick in workplace arguments and altercations over politics, with 45 percent of workers reporting they have experienced political disagreements in the workplace, up three percentage points from 2019. Nearly half, or 46 percent, said they had witnessed such disagreements at work. More details.
Labor Activism
Starbucks – The company settled its first National Labor Relations Board complaint with unionized workers – the first of numerous legal complaints that are currently being considered. The complaint cited unfair labor practices – including retaliatory actions against union leaders at its New York City Roastery location and the settlement requires Starbucks to remove “certain unwarranted disciplinary actions from employee records” and post the notice of the settlement in the employee break room at the Roastery for at least 60 days. However, the settlement stipulates that it does not constitute an admission by Starbucks of wrongdoing, liability or violation of law. More details.
Starbucks – U.S Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Richard Blumenthal, and Bernie Sanders sent a letter to Starbucks’s Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz and the company’s board of directors requesting disclosure of how much the coffee chain has spent on lawyers and consulting fees to counter the growing union membership at hundreds of its locations in the United States. They cited “reports that Starbucks is engaging in illegal union-busting tactics” and asked Starbucks to respond within a month. More details.
Sysco – Workers at company facilities in Boston, New York State and elsewhere have begun systematically walking off the job and striking. Organized by the Teamsters, the walkouts have focused on the accusation of unfair labor practices by the company as well wage and benefit issues. More details.
Key Takeaways
- This week, the U.S. Supreme Court began its 2022-2023 term and prominent on the docket this year are many important cases that need to be watched closely by the business community. Some cases will involve the ability of injured workers to sue employers, standards for animal confinement, race-based preferences and a host of other issues important to employers. But most prominent among them will be a number of cases that could redefine the government’s ability to regulate – whether it’s the EPA, the SEC or the Labor Department and its agencies such as OSHA or the NLRB. Brands should watch closely.
- The midterm elections are now less than a month away and while control of the Congress is garnering the most media attention, it will be races at the state gubernatorial and legislative level that could impact business models the most. A number of states will likely flip control of the governor’s mansion and state legislative chambers could look markedly different in states with large restaurant industry footprints.
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.