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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


Perhaps one of the biggest news stories (in terms of labor and employment law matters) over the past week or two has been McDonald’s announcing it would no longer support lobbying efforts to prevent minimum wage hikes.  Although this is nothing short of a victory for minimum wage advocates, there have been some reports that McDonald’s workers still went on strike in different parts of the country earlier this past week to draw attention to their ongoing disputes with the company.  Regardless of the strikes, McDonald’s deciding to no longer support lobbying efforts to fight minimum wage hikes is a noteworthy development and well worth highlighting this week.

Of course, that is not even taking into account the new minimum wage hike signed into law in New Mexico on Monday.  Earlier that morning, I had made note of the minimum wage bill, that was recently passed by the New Mexico Legislature, awaiting signature by the Governore before becoming law.  It turns out minimum wage advocates did not have to wait very long.

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


McDonald’s Drops Opposition to Minimum Wage Hikes

Last week, in a somewhat unprecedented move, McDonald’s announced it would no longer support lobbying efforts that seek to prevent minimum wage hikes.  In doing so, the company indicated it would no longer support lobbying efforts to oppose raising the minimum wage rate at the federal, state, or local level.  As Hazma Shaban at The Washington Post reports, this is an unexpected about face for the company which had traditionally been opposed to minimum wage hikes over the past several years.  Will other large scale hourly employers join McDonald’s?  It is hard to say, but for the time being, minimum wage advocates are hailing this development as a major victory.


The Realities of New York City’s $15/Hour Minimum Wage Rate Start to Sink In

Gregory Bresiger at The New York Post wrote an article earlier this week in which he noted that a recent survey has found that New York City’s $15/hour minimum wage rate is not all sun shine and rainbows.  According to the survey, many employers (in the restaurant industry) have started to slash employee work hours, cut some hourly jobs entirely, and pass the rising labor costs onto customers. Now of course this survey was online and conducted by a group that represents restaurants in the city.  Does that make this report somewhat self serving?  Perhaps.  Without too much effort we could probably find another study/survey that finds the hourly wage hike has actually been a boon for all involved.  With that being said, even if some readers are intent to take this article and the reported survey results with a grain of salt, I would not discount the notion entirely that for many in New York City, they are a long ways away from being beneficiaries of hourly wages rising to $15/hour.


2016 v. 2020: How Labor Unions Are Approaching Endorsements of Candidates This Time

Readers will likely recall in vivid detail how the 2016 election played out with Republican nominee Donald Trump defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, to the surprise of many.  What some readers might not be as familiar with is how the Democratic nomination process played out, mainly among coveted endorsements from labor unions.  As Evan Halper at The Los Angeles Times notes, even though many of the ‘rank and file’ members of several prominent labor unions reportedly favored Bernie Sanders, their union leadership instead backed Hillary Clinton during the Democratic nomination.  This resulted in widespread rancor and discontent in many unions, due in no small part to a pro employer President taking the White House after two terms of President Barack Obama’s labor friendly administration.  However, this election cycle it appears that many unions are taking a more measured approach.   Some unions are reportedly withholding endorsing any candidate until after the nomination process concludes.  In fact, one union in particular, the American Federation of Teachers, stated that it would seek more input from front line educators, in regard which Democratic candidate to endorse.  With such a wide field of Democratic nominees, it will be interesting to see if any of them are able to make inroads with unions and obtain endorsements to help propel their candidacy to the White House in 2020.


Google to Require Expanded Compensation Package For Contract & Temporary Workers

This past Tuesday, Google announced that it would begin requiring its contract and temporary workers receive full benefits including a $15/hour minimum wage, paid parental leave, and comprehensive healthcare.  Emily Birnbaum at The Hill writes that this change is set to go into effect by 2022.  Notably, contract and temporary workers at Google apparently account for 54% of the company’s workforce.  Needless to say, this change to the compensation package that over half of Google’s workforce will receive in the coming years will have quite an impact.  The question is whether other large tech companies follow suit and implement a similar change to the compensation package for their contract and temporary workers.

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