
This report was written by Walker Bragman, Andrew Perez, and David Sirota.
The parent company of some of Americaâs largest fast food chains is claiming credit for convincing Congress to exclude a $15 minimum wage from the recent COVID relief bill, according to internal company documents reviewed by The Daily Poster. The company, which is owned by a private equity firm named after an Ayn Rand character, also says it is now working to thwart new union rights legislation.
The companyâs boasts come just a few months after a government report found that some of its chains had among the highest percentage of workers relying on food stamps.
Inspire Brands â which owns Jimmy Johns, Arbyâs, Sonic, and Buffalo Wild Wings, plus recently acquired Dunkinâ Donuts for $11.3 billion in November â on Thursday sent employees and franchisees a review of its government lobbying activity that highlighted its success in keeping the $15 minimum wage out of Democratsâ American Rescue Plan, the COVID-19 relief bill President Joe Biden signed earlier this month.
âWe were successful in our advocacy efforts to remove the Raise the Wage Act, which would have increased the federal minimum wage to $15 and eliminated the tip credit,â reads the report.
Further down, the report notes the companyâs ongoing lobbying campaign in the Senate against the PRO Act, which recently passed the House and contains a laundry list of organized laborâs goals, such as eliminating right-to-work laws and banning mandatory company-sponsored meetings that are designed to discourage union activity.
âUnder this proposed rule, franchisors could be considered the direct employer of the franchise owners in their system, as well as the restaurant workers those owners employ, taking away the independence of small business owners,â the document said.
âYou get the impression that theyâre actively spitting in our eye, saying âYes, we worked to suppress wages of our employees and weâre just going to brazenly tell you,ââ one Inspire Brands worker told The Daily Poster. âI really do think that a line was crossed. Youâre just going to brazenly tell your employees, ânot only did we work to kill wages, but going forward weâre also going to make sure that the PRO Act doesnât pass either.ââ
Inspire Brands did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Government Report On Low Wages Spotlighted Inspire Brandsâ Companies
During the 2020 campaign, Democrats pledged to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, which would boost the wages of 32 million workers nationwide, according to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
However, efforts to include a $15 minimum wage in Bidenâs pandemic aid bill failed after the Senate parliamentarian advised Democrats such a hike should not be passed by budget reconciliation and Vice President Kamala Harris declined to use her authority to override the decision.
Inspire Brandsâ success in eliminating the minimum wage hike from the bill follows Dunkinâ Brandsâ then-CEO Nigel Travis saying in 2015 that a $15 wage would be âabsolutely outrageous.â At the time, unions noted that Travis was being paid more than $4,000 every hour.
The minimum wage defeat also follows an October 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office finding that low-wage workers at Dunkinâ Donuts, Arbyâs, and Sonic were among those relying most heavily on food stamps in states where those franchises operate. In 2019, some Sonic workers walked off the job in Ohio in protest of low pay.
While paying many of its workers below $15, Inspire Brandsâ franchises are generating $26 billion in annual revenue and enriching top executives. The founder of Jimmy Johnâs â which has been accused of busting worker union drives â recently boasted on his website that he was named one of the planetâs wealthiest men.
In the year before Inspire acquired his company, Dunkinâ Brandsâ CEO was paid millions and then made millions more when the deal closed.
In government filings that year, Dunkinâ Brands warned investors about the prospect of low-wage workers being paid better.
âA significant number of our franchiseesâ food-service employees are paid at rates related to the U.S. federal minimum wage and applicable minimum wages in foreign jurisdictions and past increases in the U.S. federal minimum wage and foreign jurisdiction minimum wage have increased labor costs, as would future such increases,â the company wrote. âAny increases in labor costs might result in franchisees inadequately staffing restaurants. Understaffed restaurants could reduce sales at such restaurants, decrease royalty payments, and adversely affect our brands.â
The company also bragged that ânone of our employees are represented by a labor union, and we believe our relationships with our employees are healthy.â
âOur Name Signifies Our Admiration For The Qualities Embodied By Howard Roarkâ
Inspire Brands is majority owned by Roark Capital â a $23 billion private equity giant named after the self-centered protagonist of Ayn Rand novel The Fountainhead, which is considered a foundational conservative text for the defense of billionaires and economic inequality.
âOur name signifies our admiration for the qualities embodied by Howard Roark,â the firm says on its website. âWe are committed to being a good partner in good times, and an even better partner in bad times.â
Donors from Roark-linked companies delivered more than $800,000 of campaign contributions in the 2020 election cycle, mostly to Republicans, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets.
Several state and local retirement systems have invested public employeesâ retirement savings in the Roark funds involved in Inspire Brandsâ takeover of Dunkinâ Brands last year, including the Oregon State Treasury, the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, and the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System.
In its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Roark advised investors that âportfolio companies of the type targetedâ by the firm can be âadversely affected by changes in governmental policiesâ including the minimum wage.
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