The Working Lunch

Congress and state legislators are beginning to get serious about the labor shortage facing employers. Discussions around tax incentives, government-funded hiring bonuses and other remedies are at the forefront of the conversation. We’ll discuss the state of play of this important issue and what operators should expect. And Walmart is the latest company to get a visit from activist shareholders demanding change. This week leading labor activist Rev. William Barber showed up in Bentonville demanding higher wages and worker protections. We’ll take a look at how that played out. And CEO Pay is increasingly being tied to Diversity Goals. This week a number of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, ran stories detailing the increasing pressure executives are under from, surprisingly, institutional investors. We’ll dive right into that. And to top it off, our old friend Mike Whatley, Vice President of State Affairs and Grassroots Programs at the National Restaurant Association, stops by the pod and discusses The NRA’s BluePrint for Rebuilding - a resource to help state and local policy makers as the look for ways to reinvigorate the industry in their states and towns. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

One Fair Wage Hits the streets for another round of worker protests, strikes and walkouts targeting high end restaurants in major metros. Their new message - “it’s not a labor shortage, it's a pay shortage” seems to be taking hold in some quarters and the press this week seems to be gobbling it up. We’ll take a look at this new dynamic in the wage conversation. And Emily Williams Knight joins us to talk about her new role at the National Restaurant Association as Chief Collaboration Officer and Executive Vice President of Industry Relations. We’ll discuss the challenges that lay ahead as she tries to streamline advocacy and other efforts between the state restaurant associations and the NRA as well as a host of other topics. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

Fight for $15 took to the streets this week targeting McDonald’s workers in 15 cities across the country organizing strikes and walkouts. This was staged on the same day as the McDonald's shareholder meeting to sync with shareholders and other activists calling for change. We’ll discuss, in light of the pending legislation in Congress, whether this moves the needle on the issue and whether they can take advantage of a new political climate in Washington. And speaking of labor, what’s going on with workers centers and the other alt labor groups we used to hear about? Well apparently a lot. We’ll discuss how these groups have stayed below the radar but yet still stayed relevant. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The political food fight around systemic racism and its potential causes and remedies is putting employers in an increasingly difficult spot. A major national employer was involved in a significant backlash this week and we’ll discuss what implications their experience can have for other employers. And the national conversation around the labor shortage got supercharged this week as the US Chamber of Commerce called for the discontinuance of supplemental unemployment benefits and several red states moved to cut off enhanced federal jobless benefits that were supposed to last until September. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The labor shortage continues to challenge the industry and operators are struggling to keep doors open. Data continues to emerge putting more and more context around the complexity of the issue and what challenges are short-term and which are likely chronic. We’ll take a look at some polling data from a leading university-based restaurant and hospitality management program that examines worker attitudes which could provide meaningful clues to the industry. And the Congressional dialogue around a federal minimum wage hike is slowly becoming clearer and it looks like there is emerging agreement on some broad concepts, namely wage levels and the treatment of tips. We’ll take a look at that as well as the subsequent political calculations facing many industry leaders. We’ll also discuss a new report out this week claiming wide scale abuse by employers regarding compliance with wage and hour law and how new leadership at the Wage & Hour division may take advantage of those allegations.

The Biden Administration concluded their first 100 days in office with a speech before a joint session of Congress. We'll take a look at what he said and how it impacts the industry as well as discuss how successful his first 100 days have been. And the Restaurant Revitalization Plan goes live this coming Monday. We are joined once again by Aaron Frazier, Director of Healthcare and Tax Policy at the National Restaurant Association, and also their resident RRF guru, to get operators the latest info so they can be ready when the doors open. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The National Restaurant Association made major news this week as Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema participated in their annual public affairs conference and laid out their visions on many key restaurant issues, not the least of which was minimum wage. These two senators will have an oversized role in how this issue plays out and we’ll discuss their message to the industry and what it means. And the industry also got pulled into the brewing civil war between the Republican party and Corporate America. This week, Sen. Marco Rubio went after Sodexo and threatened their federal contracts over their public statements regarding Republican initiatives on voting rights. We’ll discuss that issue and its connotations. And we all know the labor market is tight. But the real question is why and what can be done about it and what those answers might mean for the industry reputationally. We’ll take a look at the implications of that important conversation. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

California is heating up in a big way and the SEIU appears to be in the driver’s seat. We will be joined by Jeff Hanscom, Vice President of State Government Relations and Public Policy for the International Franchise Association, who will walk us through comprehensive labor legislation that could permanently alter how the quick service sector, and potentially all restaurants, do business in the state going forward. And we’ll take a look at the aftermath of the Amazon vote last week in Alabama and how their surprising margin of victory could change the game for union organizing efforts going forward. And Illinois has taken a huge step forward on Equal Pay, basically mimicking what the Obama Administration was trying to do on gender and racial pay discrepancies. We’ll take a look at that and its impact for national brands. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The American Rescue Plan is in full swing and restaurant owners across the country are, as of this week, taking advantage of the new loan programs. We sit down with Aaron Frazier, the Director of Healthcare & Tax Policy at the National Restaurant Association and get a full debrief on the programs, how to access the loans, and how the Industry is working to make the programs successful. And the corporate elephant in the room this week is Georgia. We’re going to talk about the political situation there, and how, and even if, our industry leaders should engage in this toxic conversation. And California is up to its old tricks again. We’re watching a piece of legislation being pushed by the labor community that takes direct aim at the quick service restaurant sector. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

Darden Restaurants made news this week with a major announcement on wage increases, including tipped workers and millions of dollars in bonuses for hourly workers. We’ll take a look at its impact not only in the employee marketplace, but in the national political dialogue on wages. And the Restaurant Recovery Fund is ready to launch. We’ll discuss the program, the timelines and what operators need to do to prepare. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.