US Restaurant Lobby Puts Burden on Taxpayers - Advocacy Group

The advocacy organization Restaurant Opportunities Centers United stated that the US National Restaurant Association has lobbied the Congress and US states’ legislatures to ensure that workers are not paid a living wage, forcing workers to rely on government handouts at significant cost to taxpayers.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US National Restaurant Association has lobbied the Congress and US states’ legislatures to ensure that workers are not paid a living wage, forcing workers to rely on government handouts at significant cost to taxpayers, the advocacy organization Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United said in a statement.

“For too long, Fortune 500 restaurant companies like Olive Garden, Applebee’s and Cracker Barrel have been getting away with paying employees so little that, despite working full-time, their employees still require public support programs like SNAP[food assistance] to get by,” ROC United said in the statement on Wednesday.

The statement came as workers from the service industry to fast-food and restaurants organized on Wednesday nationwide strikes for a minimum wage of $15 per hour.

ROC United issue a report on Tuesday saying that nearly 50 percent of restaurant workers in the United States rely on welfare programs such as food stamps, costing US taxpayers some $9.4 billion per year.

The US federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, but for restaurant workers that can receive tips, the salary is set at a minimum of $2.13 an hour and has not been changed since 1991.

ROC United accused the National Restaurant Association, which represents some of the largest restaurant chains, of lobbying the US Congress and state legislatures to keep workers’ wages low.

“The National Restaurant Association’s legislative agenda centers on opposing policies that improve working conditions and public health such as paid sick days, nutritional menu labeling, and regulation of sodium, trans fats, and sugars,” ROC United said.

The advocacy group added that the National Restaurant Association has also prevented nutritional labelling requirements, obstructed paid sick days and women’s family and healthcare rights.

In his 2014 State of the Union Address, US President Barack Obama called on lawmakers to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour. The federal minimum wage was last raised in 2009.

McDonalds recently announced non-franchise stores would increase wages above the minimum wage, however the raise still falls short of $10 and the $15 per hour demanded by protestors on Wednesday.

The National Restaurant Association claims to be the largest foodservice trade association in the world that supports nearly 500,000 restaurant businesses, including some the United States’ largest chain restaurants.