Wages
Amazon – The company announced it is raising its average starting pay for warehouse workers and delivery drivers to more than $19/hr, up from $18/hr previously. With the increase, which takes effect next month, Amazon’s frontline employees in the United States will earn between $16/hr and $26/hr depending on their position and location in the country. In addition to the wage increase, the company said that it is expanding its pay access program, dubbed Anytime Pay, to all employees across its US operations. The program provides Amazon employees access to up to 70 percent of their eligible earned pay whenever they choose during the month, and without fees. Previously, most Amazon employees received their paychecks once or twice monthly. More details.
Labor Policy
U. S. Senate – The Senate HELP committee delayed voting this week on a slate of President Joe Biden’s nominees to key labor agency positions as Congress presses to pass a short-term funding extension. A new date is still being worked out but until then, Jessica Looman (Wage and Hour Division) and Karla Gilbride (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) will remain in limbo. Scheduling conflicts including a COVID diagnosis for one senator coupled with Hurricane Ian caused the delay. More details.
Labor Department – The White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) concluded its review of the Labor Department’s new independent contractor rule. The agency is expected to publish the regulation in the next few days. The rule will likely resemble the one championed by former Wage and Hour Administrator David Weil during the Obama Administration. It likely will not include a so-called ABC Test (a three-prong set of standards employers must meet if they want to classify a worker as an independent contractor). But it may closely mirror the” economic realities test,” which directs the agency to take into account a wide array of factors like employer control and workers’ own investments in equipmentwhen determining employee status. More details.
California – The governor signed legislation mandating employers be required to comply with a host of new pay data disclosure requirements. Employers with more than 15 employees would be required to include a pay scale in all job postings (and to provide that information to third parties who post those jobs). Within each job category, the legislation requires that employers report the median and mean hourly rate by each combination of race, ethnicity, and sex. By comparison, existing law requires only numerical counts of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex within each job category and pay band. Employers with multiple establishments would no longer be required to submit a consolidated report; rather, employers would continue to be required to submit a report for each establishment. Similar policies have been adopted in Colorado and New York City. More details.
Labor Activism
San Francisco, CA – A strike involving San Francisco International Airport restaurant employees has ended after the workers’ union reached an agreement with the airport’s consortium of restaurants, union officials announced this week. The three-day strike that started Monday with about 1,000 workers with the union Unite Here Local 2 caused many of the restaurants to close this week, but an agreement was reached late Wednesday between the union and the restaurants and the union’s bargaining committee unanimously approved it. Details of the agreement will be released after all of the workers have a chance to vote on it. More details.
Starbucks – The company announced this week that it wants to start contract negotiations next month at hundreds of U.S. stores that have voted to unionize. The company sent letters to 238 stores offering a three-week window in Oct. to start negotiations. All of those stores, which are located in 36 states and the District of Columbia, have voted to unionize this year in elections that were certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Workers United, the union organizing Starbucks’ workers, expressed skepticism about the company’s announcement, stating that they have sought to begin negotiations since May. Starbucks said that Workers United has directed the company to schedule all negotiations through the union’s president. Union leaders say their focus right now is developing core proposals on both economic and non-economic issues to help guide bargaining at individual stores, including inclusion of just cause provisions which make it more difficult for the employer to terminate employees. A national bargaining committee (made up of representatives from unionized stores) has been meeting weekly to discuss those proposals. More details.
Trader Joe’s – Employees at a Brooklyn store petitioned the NLRB to conduct a unionization election. Workers are seeking to join Trader Joe’s United, the same fledgling, independent group that prevailed in two elections this summer, creating the first union foothold among the company’s over 500 stores. The Brooklyn site employs around 185 workers, according to the docket. Workers at the store, which opened less than a year ago, say they have faced racial discrimination, poor working conditions, and, lately, union busting while working for the company. More details.
Alcohol
Massachusetts – The governor voiced his opposition and intention to veto a senate-approved amendment embedded within a larger economic development bill that would give cities and towns the authority to allow discounted after-work drinks. In a letter sent to lawmakers, the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, citing the potential for increased insurance liability costs and predatory pricing policies, urged house and senate negotiators to drop the proposal to overturn the state’s happy hour ban from the final bill. More details.
New Jersey – Starting next week, third-party delivery companies can apply for a new $2,000/yr permit through the state alcohol beverage control’s online licensing system. The delivery companies can now charge a fixed fee for deliveries. In Aug., New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced that alcoholic beverages including to-go drinks from restaurants can be delivered via third-party services like DoorDash and Instacart and now licensed businesses that serve alcohol are free to contract directly with third-party services. More details.
Key Takeaways
- Thousands of workers around the country are going on strike (or threatening to do so) heading into Oct. Last Oct. was also dubbed “Striketober” by the labor leaders as a number of high-profile labor strikes and strike threats occurred throughout the month. Organizers hope to build on that momentum this year and further highlight ongoing efforts at Starbucks, Chipotle, Amazon, Apple, Trader Joe’s, and REI among others in the restaurant/retail space. Brands should prepare for heightened activism in the workplace in the coming weeks.
- Brands need to take note of yet another escalation in the Republican pushback on “woke corporations.” This week, the Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) urged House Republicans to refuse to meet with any corporations that have gone “woke,” and have targeted the conservative movement. CPAC leadership accused several companies of colluding with the Biden administration to “silence conservative voices” and spread misinformation about voter ID and election security. In a letter to all House Republican Chiefs of Staff, the coalition is demanding that Republican members “pledge that you will not meet with these CEOs or their leadership teams, especially their government affairs staff, until they change their ways.” They also warned lawmakers against meeting with corporations that have promoted “radical gender theory” on children, paid for travel costs for employees’ abortions, and supported Black Lives Matter in any way, citing Walmart, Disney, Delta and Meta specifically. Brands, especially those with public affairs or government relations functions, need to pay attention.
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.