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What I've Been Reading This Week


Excuse the brevity of this post, but I am wrapping up breakfast at Whole Foods this morning before heading into a mediation.  Thankfully I have had less time on the road for work the past few weeks so I have been able to read through more articles than normal.  Perhaps one of the more interesting articles had to do with a proposed 'answer' for why wages in the fast food industry have long since stagnated.  While there is likely no definitive answer as to why wages in this industry have, for the most part, failed to take off, this New York Times article gives some thought provoking insight.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.



Rachel Abrams at The New York Times wrote an article this past Wednesday that shed some light on why hourly wages in the fast food industry have failed to take off (as much as some would like.). There is apparently a clause in many fast food franchise agreements that prohibits franchisees of chains such as Burger King, Carl's Jr., and Pizza Hut from hiring employees away from one another.  (As a result, one Burger King franchisee would be prohibited from hiring away an employee from another Burger King franchisee.)  While these clauses are not actually agreed to or signed off by employees (as they are found only in the franchise agreements with the parent companies that franchisees sign), these clauses have tended to prevent 'bidding wars' among franchisees for employees and also limit the negotiating power employees have when they attempt to obtain a higher hourly wage rate.  Fascinating article for those unfamiliar with these clauses.



An interesting study was released last month which reported that approximately 90% of U.S. House offices do not pay their interns with nearly half of U.S. Senate offices failing to do so as well.  Interesting to note the political breakdown by party however in terms of the U.S. House offices:  about 10% of Republican offices pay their interns while only about 4% of Democratic offices do so.  For a party that often leads the charge on liveable wages, 'Fight for $15', etc., Democrats in the U.S. House are woefully lacking, per this report.

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