Fight For $15 Primer

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SEIUS CAMPAIGN TO GET MORE MONEY FOR UNION BOSSES, NOT MORE WAGES FOR WORKERS

The Fight for $15 movement, created by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), planned a national day of protests and strikes at fast-food restaurants. The Fight for $15 campaign is part of SEIUs strategy for getting millions of new members to fill the coffers of Washington, D.C. union bosses with dues collected from workers hard-earned paychecks.

The Fight for $15 campaign was boosted by an August 2015 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that vastly expanded the joint employer standard. While mundane sounding, this will greatly ease the way for unions like the SEIU to organize fast-food employees and other franchise companies such as hotels, retailers and service businesses that have been a successful path to entrepreneurship. SEIU has been seeking this change for years because when it comes to union dues, being able to organize all of a brand companys franchisees employees at once would be easier and far more lucrative than having to organize workers one franchise location at a time.

If SEIU successfully organizes just one-third of the fast-food workforce, it will mean at least $400 million a year in new dues. Thats more money for high-flying union boss lifestyles, liberal causes, and Democrat politicians. This is why union bosses in Washington, D.C. are so invested in the Fight for $15 movement as a vehicle for expanding their union membership and ensuring that money keeps flowing into their political machine.

National Day Of Protests And Strikes

The Fight for $15 movement planned a national day of protests and strikes to be held on Nov. 10, 2015.

Fast-food workers, already a potent political force, are planning their largest nationwide strike yet next week and this time will leverage their crusade for a $15-an-hour wage in a bid to sway the 2016 presidential election. The group representing the workers, Fight for $15, plans on Tuesday to stage protests at restaurants in 270 cities, the most since it began organizing the demonstrations three years ago. (Paul Davidson, Fast-Food Workers Plan New Strike, Aim To Sway Election, USA Today, 11/5/15)

The movement claimed it would hold protests in 500 cities and strikes in 260 cities.

(Fight For $15 Twitter Feed, 11/9/15)

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Millions Spent To Elect Obama:

In 2012, SEIU was one of the leading outside spenders on behalf of Democrat campaigns, spending almost $70 million to elect President Obama and other Democrats.

The Service Employees International Union has emerged as the top outside spender on Democratic campaigns this year, surpassing even President Barack Obama's main super PAC. SEIU, like other large entities that spend money on elections, doesn't have to disclose all of its expenditures to the Federal Election Commission. But according to disclosures it has made so far this year, the union has funded almost $70 million of campaign donations, television ads and get-out-the-vote efforts for Mr. Obama and other Democrats. (Melanie Trottman and Brody Mullins, Union Is Top Spender For Democrats, Wall Street Journal, 11/1/12)

SEIUs spending came with the expectation of results from the administration and, so far, the Obama administration has delivered.

At Same Time, SEIU Backs And Underwrites Fight For $15 With The Real Target Being Unionization Of Fast Food Industry:

Today, SEIU is underwriting the Fight for $15 campaign to the tune of almost $80 million so far, financed by dues taken by union bosses from the paychecks of SEIU members.

Thus far, SEIU has spent upwards of $80 million during the course of its war on the fast-food industry. (Staff, $80 Million & Counting: SEIU Will Spend Whatever It Takes To Unionize Fast Food Workers, LaborUnionReport.com, 8/30/15)

An SEIU official has been described as the architect of the so-called Fight for $15 campaign.

Scott Courtney, the Service Employees International Union official who is the architect of the so-called Fight for 15 campaign, laid out the new approach in his first on-the-record interview since he started working on the effort in 2012. (Noam Scheiber, Union Takes A McDonalds Challenge Overseas, The New York Times, 8/19/15)

The SEIU is not only funding the campaign, it is also supplying the protesters, undermining the assertion this is an organic, worker-driven effort to increase wages.

The fast food protests that overwhelmed stores across the country on Thursday seem to have a lot more union organizers than actual workers, according to a new video. SEIU has spent millions of dollars on front groups to help organize protests at major fast food companies, including McDonalds. Thursdays protests were no different, as the video shows union officials writing checks to those in attendance. Carpetbagging protesters evidently played a vital role in turning out big numbers to the protests. (Bill McMorris, SEIU Claims Credit For Fast Food Protests, The Washington Free Beacon, 12/5/14)

To grow their membership, unions have even pushed for labor carve-outs from state and local minimum wage increases to use as leverage with businesses to make organizing a more attractive option than increasing wages.

The carve-outs are increasingly drawing the ire of business groups representing the hotel and tourism industries, among others. They say such exemptions are a way for unions to organize or gain negotiating power by using the ability to opt out of the wage law as leverage to achieve other goals. (Eric Morath And Alejandro Lazo, Minimum-Wage Waivers For Union Members Stir Standoff, The Wall Street Journal, 8/17/15)

As early as 2013, SEIU suggested the franchise structure could be vulnerable to political or legal challenges.

I think anything you know about traditional collective bargaining is possible, said Henry, and then things we havent imagined. She added that innovations may be necessary to address

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the franchisee structure of the industry, in which fast food corporations set the business model and reap substantial portions of the revenue but dont directly employ many of the workers. Could that franchisee structure itself be vulnerable to political or legal challenge? Yeah, I think theres a lot of areas, said Courtney. But again, its brand-new and certainly not fleshed out. (Josh Eidelson, Fast Food Strikes To Massively Expand: Theyre Thinking Much Bigger, Salon, 8/14/13)

SEIU is motivated by the goal of transforming the fast food industry. SEIU President Mary Kay Henry has called franchises a smokescreen so corporations dont have to take responsibility for paying more.

A source who took part in a private SEIU meeting with allies last week in Las Vegas said that the union presented two tracks under serious consideration for transforming the industry. (Josh Eidelson, Fast Food Strikes To Massively Expand: Theyre Thinking Much Bigger, Salon, 8/14/13) Organizers suggest otherwise. The franchisee relationship is a smokescreen so corporations dont have to take responsibility for paying more, Henry says. Every detail of food preparation is centralized. With that level of coordination, workers believe that corporations could figure out how to pay them more. (Susan Berfield, Fast-Food Workers Of The World, Unite! Bloomberg, 12/5/13)

SEIU rejected recommendations from labor experts to unionize large numbers of franchise locations individually. Instead, SEIU wants to unionize all franchises at once.

Courtney rejected recommendations by some labor experts that the Fight for $15 seek to unionize 100 or 200 company-owned restaurants, and then pressure McDonalds to sign a contract that pays $15 an hour or close to it and then use that as a model. (Steven Greenhouse, Fight For $15: The Strategist Going To War To Make McDonald's Pay, The Guardian, 8/30/15)

Behind-the-scenes in Seattle, SEIU said they wanted to break the franchise model and ultimately enable unions to organize franchise employees.

The brief also provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the workings of Mayor Ed Murrays Income Inequality Advisory Committee, which over several months this spring hammered out the compromise agreement that was largely adopted by the City Council on June 2. The brief includes a declaration from Seattle nightclub owner Dave Meinert, who said that the co-chair of the committee, SEIU (Service Employees International Union) 775 President David Rolf, told him several times that the purpose behind treating small franchise businesses as large employers under the minimum wage law was to break the franchise model and enable labor unions to organize the franchise employees. (Lynn Thompson, Franchise Group Files To Block $15 Minimum-Wage Phase-In, Seattle Times, 8/6/14)

The Obama Administration Is Joining With SEIU:

Secretary of Labor Tom Perez participated in Fight for $15 events with SEIU officials.

One-by-one, sometimes in tears, Detroit workers on Tuesday opened up to U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, telling him how little they earn and why they joined a labor movement Fight for 15 that is seeking $15 an hour wages, as well as better benefits and opportunities for employees in the restaurant, retail and health care industries. (Frank Witsil, In Detroit, Labor Secretary Hears Pleas To Boost Minimum Wage, Detroit Free Press, 8/25/15)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called-in to a Fight for $15 meeting Detroit. She also participated in an SEIU event with home healthcare workers who campaigned for a $15 per hour minimum wage.

In one of the most explicitly union-friendly speeches of her young presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton called in to a convention of low-wage workers Sunday morning to deliver a message of support and solidarity. The gathering in Detroit is the second of its kind, following a first convention last year. This time, the so-called Fight for $15 has several

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victories to point to: $15 minimum wages in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, plus new proposals for the same in St. Louis and Kansas City. (Lydia DePillis, Hillary Clinton Endorses Fight For A $15 Minimum Wage, The Washington Posts WonkBlog, 6/7/15)

The Obama Administration Is Actively Targeting Franchises To Help The SEIU:

Fast-food workers, backed by the SEIU, brought several cases before the Obama NLRB.

In a high-stakes move, fast-food workers, backed by the S.E.I.U., have brought several cases before the National Labor Relations Board, asking its general counsel to declare McDonalds a joint employer of the restaurants run by its franchisees. If the labor board agrees, that would open the door for the S.E.I.U. to try to unionize not just three or five McDonalds at a time, but dozens and perhaps hundreds. (Steven Greenhouse, Fast-Food Workers Intensify Fight For $15 An Hour, The New York Times, 7/27/14)

In August 2015, the NLRB ruled that an employer qualified as a joint employer with its subcontractors, which could become a legal rationale for forcing franchise companies to sit at the bargaining table with workers employed by a franchisee managing one of its restaurants.

The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Thursday that Browning Ferris Industries, a waste management company, qualifies as a joint employer alongside one of its subcontractors. The decision effectively loosens the standards for who can be considered a worker's boss under labor law, and its impact will be felt in any industry that relies on franchising or outsourcing work. McDonald's, for instance, could now find itself forced to sit at the bargaining table with workers employed by a franchisee managing one of its restaurants. (Dave Jamieson, The Labor Ruling McDonald's Has Been Dreading Just Became A Reality, The Huffington Post, 8/27/15)

The NLRB decision may make it easier to unionize at franchises.

On Thursday, the NLRB issued a momentous 3-2 ruling along party lines that may make it easier for McDonalds to unionize, reversing a 34-year precedent. (Timothy Noah and Brian Mahoney, Obama Labor Board Flexes Its Muscles, Politico, 9/1/15)

NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin admitted the sole reason the NLRB is pursuing McDonalds Corp., as a joint employer is because of the Fight for $15 movement and protests.

The sole reason why our agency is involved in the McDonalds situation is because there is a national campaign that's called the 'Fight for $15' that is being run by a fast-food workers alliance that is seeking to raise wages in the fast food industry to $15 a hour, Griffin told the audience. (Sean Higgins, Union-Funded Activist Group Sole Reason For McDonalds Complaint: Labor Board, Washington Examiner, 10/20/15)

WATCH THE VIDEO OF GRIFFIN'S REMARKS

The Labor Departments Wage and Hour Division and OSHA are also targeting franchises under joint employer standard.

David Weil, who runs the Labor Departments Wage and Hour Division, is responsible for getting companies to obey basic labor laws at a time when the workplace is rapidly changing. Among the issues confronting Mr. Weil and his staff are the growth of outsourcing and changes in the independent workforce, controversies over the legal definition of an employer at companies like McDonalds Corp. and their franchisees, and a flurry of activism on the minimum wage. Mr. Weil, who is on leave from his teaching job at Boston Universitys School of Management, squeaked through the Senate confirmation process for his current post in April 2014. Republicans objected to his view that government should take an activist approach to enforcing labor laws. (Lauren Weber, Wage-Law Enforcer Favors Proactive Approach, The Wall Street Journal, 12/30/14)

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has never ruled a fast food corporation jointly liable for any safety violation committed by a franchisee. But 28 complaints filed on behalf of McDonalds workers may alter that policy. The health and safety complaints were announced Monday by Fight for $15, the fast food workers campaign backed by the Service Employees International Union. The complaints, which have not been made public, allege various workplace hazards, including a high risk of burns, at 19 franchisee-owned McDonalds restaurants and nine restaurants owned directly by McDonalds USA, LLC. Unlike the complaints that the National Labor Relations Boards General Counsel filed in December against McDonalds, none of the OSHA complaints named McDonalds USA, LLC a joint employer with any franchisee. But even management-side attorneys cant help wondering whether OSHA will follow the NLRBs lead in some way. (Brian Mahoney, Will OSHA Wade Into 'Joint Employer'? NLRB Affirms Arbitration Stance Labor And Obama: Best Frenemies? Politicos Morning Shift Newsletter, 3/17/15)

Fight For $15 And Joint Employer Holds The Promise Of Millions Of More Members:

With joint employer making unionizing easier, the SEIU has the potential to gain millions of new dues-paying members.

For the administrations union supporters, the move to declare multiple companies joint employers levels the playing field in union negotiating efforts and offers the promise of millions more dues-paying members to help replenish depleted pension plans. (Daniel Fisher, Labor Board Poised To Expand The Definition Of 'Employer,' Forbes, 8/21/15)

With the union spending more than $30 million on the campaign, it would make sense for that union to seek to organize fast-food workers with an eye to making them dues-paying members to help finance the fight and help the union grow. Campaigns like this dont happen spontaneously, said Peter Dreier, a professor of politics and urban policy at Occidental College. Ultimately this campaign depends on having an organized-labor movement that can pay for organizers on the ground to whip up workers into a protest campaign. (Steven Greenhouse, How To Get Low-Wage Workers Into The Middle Class, The Atlantic, 8/19/15)

SEIU officials have called the joint employer ruling huge and fantastic for their efforts.

Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 10,000 New Jersey workers, called the ruling huge, saying it will help long-running union efforts to organize part-time workers who clean corporate office buildings. It opens the door to direct bargaining with the building owners, who are the ones that actually have the power to directly affect the workers' conditions, said Andrew Strom, the union's associate general counsel. Without that, each step of the way, the contractor has to go back and make a phone call and see if he can get the building owner to go along with a proposal, Strom said. (Hugh R. Morley, Unions, Biz Leaders Face Off Over Federal Labor Ruling, The Record, 9/2/15)

But William Massey, a New York attorney who is counsel to the New Jersey branch of Local 1199 of the SEIU, which represents health care workers, called the ruling fantastic. He said it could help the union more easily organize workers at New Jersey nursing homes, which frequently hire contractors to hire and manage workers. Often, the main company and contractor engage in finger-pointing, saying they can't improve an aspect of working conditions because the other one has control over it, Massey said. (Hugh R. Morley, Unions, Biz Leaders Face Off Over Federal Labor Ruling, The Record, 9/2/15)

Millions Of New SEIU Members Would Mean Hundreds Of Millions More For SEIU And Their Causes:

The SEIU stands to rake-in more than $400 million per year in dues by organizing just one-third of the fast-food workforce.

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Thats $412,038,252 every year in dues aloneor over $1.2 billion over the course of a three-year contract. (Staff, Some Super-Sized Union Dues: The SEIU Stands To Rake In Billions By Unionizing Fast-Food Workers, LaborUnionReport.com, 3/25/15)

Between 2005 and 2014, SEIU donated $3,221,219 to the liberal Center for American Progress think tank. (Union Search, U.S. Dept. Of Labor Office Of Labor-Management Standards, Accessed 9/8/14)

Between 2005 and 2014, SEIU donated $2,289,500 to the Democracy Alliance, an organization of wealthy liberal donors. (Union Search, U.S. Dept. Of Labor Office Of Labor-Management Standards, Accessed 9/8/14)

In 2005 alone, SEIU paid the infamous ACORN $2,132,729. (Union Search, U.S. Dept. Of Labor Office Of Labor-Management Standards, Accessed 9/8/14)