The Working Lunch

We have two phenomenal guests on the pod this week. Phil Wilson from the Labor Relations Institute will join us to discuss organized labor’s most important piece of legislation to pass the U.S. House in generations - the PRO Act - and discuss its chances for passing the Senate, and if unsuccessful, what parts of it could be enacted by regulation. Most importantly, he will discuss the ramifications for employers and what they need to know. He will also give us some insight on the Amazon unionization vote underway in Alabama, and regardless of outcome, what it means to both the labor and business communities. And we will also be joined once again by the smartest guy in restaurant world finance, our friend Michael Halen with Bloomberg Intelligence, to share his insights on how major brands are faring during the pandemic, who was able to innovate to not only survive but thrive, and what the financial outlook is going forward for the industry. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

This week, researchers from the Universities of Tennessee and Pennsylvania released a study analyzing the impacts of the country’s model UBI experiment in Stockton, CA and they found that Universal Basic Income has been an extremely effective tool in fighting poverty and that it doesn’t disincentivize work. On top of that, the Wall Street Journal this week is calling President Biden’s stimulus package a defacto UBI for many Americans, saying in part, that it does disincentivize work. We’ll discuss the dynamics of the issue and how the restaurant industry fits into all of this. And the heat is turning up on Corporate America’s response to climate change. We’ll discuss the latest announcements by some of the country’s largest employers and how the social politics of the issue are forcing the hands of many companies. And we’ll update you on the latest and greatest regarding the well-publicized unionization effort facing Amazon in Alabama and the unprecedented entrance into the standoff by a sitting American president. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The stimulus package, minus the minimum wage increase, is ready for debate on the House floor. Between wages, paid leave, employer liability, and changes to the SBA loan programs, the restaurant and retail business model has been in the spotlight all week. We’ll take a look how the industry fared and its prospects going forward. And the hazard pay conversation came to the forefront this week with two California jurisdictions deciding if restaurant workers should be eligible for the bonus. Spoiler alert - one went one way and one went the other. We’ll take a look at whether or not restaurants will continue to be a target. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

We interview the publisher of Nation’s Restaurant News, Sarah Lockyer, who helps us celebrate our 200th Working Lunch podcast and gives us her insights on how far the industry has come since our first pod and, more importantly, where she sees the industry going. And the Align team discusses what the political leadership of the industry has gotten right over the past few years since we started this podcast and what we collectively got wrong. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

We’ll bring you up to speed on the latest and greatest regarding the federal minimum wage conversation including the release of the anticipated CBO report outlining potential impacts of raising the wage to $15/hr as well as the President meeting with the CEOs of major employers to try and sell his relief package and the wage hike. We discuss all of that. And despite the ramifications of the pandemic and the subsequent economic distress, more and more major brands are finding themselves once again in the crosshairs of the animal rights community, most notably on the issues of chicken harvesting and cage-free eggs. We are joined by Will Coggin from Berman and Company, who will share his extensive experience and expertise in this space and provide some solid insight and counsel for corporate brands being faced with these challenges. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The U.S. Senate, with Vice-President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote, passed the joint budget resolution that will enable Pres. Biden’s COVID relief package to ultimately be passed under the reconciliation process, meaning a simple majority vote. The House will follow suit almost immediately and while Biden and the restaurant industry were big winners, Bernie Sanders was not. His proposal to include a $15/hr federal wage increase was rejected, and then some. We’ll take a look at all those moving parts. And despite all the focus on corporate behavior and social responsibility, a lot of companies are playing hardball and fighting back on new laws and costly mandates. We’ll take a look at the grocery sector’s fight against hazard pay requirements and how the platform companies are taking the fight to politicians as well. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

With the Biden Administration and many states intensifying their COVID-related workplace and workforce health and safety efforts, we sought out expert counsel from Ed Egee, the Vice President of Government Relations & Workforce Development at the National Retail Federation to help us sort it all out as well as discuss other pressing issues for the industry in Washington, DC. And speaking of pressing issues, the Democratic leadership in the U.S. House introduced their legislation increasing the federal minimum wage to $15/hr by 2025, indexing it to inflation thereafter, and, wait for it, eliminating the tip credit. We’’ll unpack all of that and try to clarify for operators what a final product may look like. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The National Restaurant Association and the major third-party delivery platforms have come together and agreed on a set of principles around transparency on fees, food safety, alcohol and other issues that will define their relationship going forward. We discuss this agreement with DoorDash’s Senior Policy Advisor Katie Witman and Mike Whatley, Vice President of State Government Relations at the National Restaurant Association. And hazard pay mandates are gaining traction in localities across the country, especially in California. Up to now, they have been focused on the grocery sector but next week, a major county in California will specifically vote on extending it to restaurant workers. We take a look at the changing dynamics around this issue.

The Fight for 15 is back in action calling for protests and demonstrations in cities across the country to pressure the incoming Biden Administration into passing a $15/hr minimum wage. Considering the political dynamics in the Senate, just a few Senators, probably fewer than five, will decide the fate of any potential wage hike. We’ll take a look at the state of play on wages and discuss the industry’s political positioning. And as we predicted last week, corporations and many of their PACs are drastically changing their political donation strategies in the blowback to last week’s events at the Capitol. Some are even getting out of the political business all together. We’ll take a look at the ramifications for companies, the industry and Congressional Republicans. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

It’s 2021 - thankfully - and with it brings a new Congress and the start of the state legislative sessions. We’ll talk to Mike Whatley who heads the state and local government affairs shop at the National Restaurant Association and get his perspective on the issues the industry will be tackling in 2021. And the last two weeks have been a pivotal time in the nation’s history. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the spread of the coronavirus, a change in leadership in the U.S. Senate and an armed assault on the Congress of the United States itself and all it represents. We discuss what this potentially means for the industry and more importantly, for key industry leaders. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.