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STOP the Other NRA STOP THE OTHER NRA Trump and the National Restaurant Association: Scheming to Undermine Wages, Public Health, and Worker Rights MAY 2017 BY Restaurant Opportunities Centers United IN COLLABORATION WITH Corporate Accountability International, Every Voice, AND Good Jobs First STOP THE OTHER What is The Other NRA? NRA When hearing the acronym ‘NRA’ most Americans think of a very vis- ible gun lobby. However, another national trade lobby shares the same acronym – the National Restaurant Association (NRA) – and wields a similar amount of political influence at both the national and local level. The National Restaurant Association is one of the most powerful trade lobbies in the United States, and drives corporate priorities by spending millions to influence policymakers and fight progressive legislation. While the Other NRA claims that it represents 500,000 restaurant businesses, its priorities echo those of the world’s largest food and beverage corporations, and its key leadership includes McDonald’s, Darden (Olive Garden’s parent company), Yum! Brands (Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut), and Disney.1,2 With annual revenues of 100 million, the NRA employs 750 staff and 37 Congressional lobbyists to reshape the restaurant industry in the interests of their leading members.3 The NRA and its largest members exercise oversized influence over public policy. Over the last 28 years, the NRA and its top corporate members have given over $78 million in disclosed federal contributions, spending $12 million just in the 2016 election cycle.4 Moreover, the NRA spends heavily on lobbying and draws on revolving door lobbyists straight from the halls of Congress to persuade decision makers to uphold their corporate agenda. THE OTHER NRA FOUND A FRIEND IN TRUMP This year, with the arrival of the Trump Administration, the National Restaurant Association has gained new sway in Washington, DC to advance its agenda, but has eagerly adopted ele- ments of the Trump Administration’s platform to do so. The NRA’s influence with and adoption of the Trump agenda can be most clearly seen in: ➤ The failed nomination for Secretary of Labor of Andrew Puzder, head of Carl’s Jr and Har- dee’s Restaurants, “Presidential Trustee” of Trump’s Victory PAC, and an “active member” of the NRA ➤ The recent vote in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, one of the NRA’s top policy priorities, which would deprive up to three million restaurant workers of health insurance coverage 1 STOP THE OTHER NRA ➤ The NRA’s about-face on its previous support for comprehensive immigration reform, replac- ing it with a call for greater border security, E-verify, and temporary guest workers, coupled with public attacks on immigrant workers ➤ The NRA’s efforts to roll-back the will of the people in Maine and Arizona, who eliminated the subminimum wage for tipped workers, through an aggressive “Save Our Tips” misin- formation campaign to scare workers into believing a higher minimum wage will lead to a reduction in tips ➤ A funding strategy based on aggressive conflicts of interests, where the NRA receives large payments from local governments, some of which are members of the NRA, for ServSafe food handling safety certification, while lobbying against paid sick days and other public health measures that would mitigate the spread of disease ➤ The NRA has emulated the “two for one” executive order requiring federal agencies to cut two existing regulations for every new regulation in their effort to fight common-sense public health policies such as restrictions on marketing junk food to children, menu labeling requirements, regulations on sodium content and trans fats, and sugary beverage taxes While the NRA puts on a happy face claiming to support healthy living, social inclusion, and op- TABLE 1 portunity for all, its money is spent on efforts to lower wages, prevent public health measures, repeal health insurance coverage, and attack women and immigrants. These efforts have a NRA Members rank in the Fortune 10005 measurable negative impact on millions of people. The NRA has happily embraced the Trump The Walt Disney Company 53 agenda’s exclusionary policies attacking women, immigrants, and communities of color, even though the restaurant’s workforce is majority women, disproportionately workers of color, and The Coca-Cola Company 62 the largest employer of foreign-born workers, including undocumented immigrants. McDonald’s Corporation 109 Starbucks Corporation 146 Marriott International 195 Aramark 199 Trump and The NRA Yum! Brands 218 THE DISGRACED LABOR SECRETARY NOMINEE Darden Restaurants 371 The Trump administration has been criticized for reneging on promises to its base constitu- Bloomin’ Brands 557 ency of working class voters, most recently due to its effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Similar criticisms were made about the nomination of Andrew Puzder for Secretary of Labor.6 Brinker International 731 Andrew Puzder, a key legislative champion of the National Restaurant Association,7 was the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 763 CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants. Puzder Panera Bread Company 797 was famous for using racy sexual images to increase sales, stating, “I like beautiful women Domino’s Pizza 915 eating burgers in bikinis. I think it’s very American.”8 The Wendy’s Company 999 Trump first chose Puzder as his pick for Labor Secretary nominee because of the tremendous support Puzder showed Trump during the election. Puzder was named “Presidential Trustee” to the Trump Victory PAC for his role as a bundler and donated $75,000 directly to the PAC, the largest direct contribution of any fast food CEO. In total, Puzder and his wife contributed $626,300 during the 2016 election cycle. Separately, CKE Restaurants, the NRA, and the International Franchise Association spent over $2.13 million on the 2016 election.9 Puzder’s pay-to-play nomination signaled the Trump Administration’s closeness to the NRA. Puzder’s appointment as Secretary of Labor would have allowed the NRA’s ascendancy into the White 2 House and the Cabinet, and the NRA was one of the few groups to lobby vociferously in favor of Puzder’s nomination, even over the objections of many of its members. An NRA funded public relations firm belonging to Richard Berman, a former restaurant executive, ran cable TV ads in support of Puzder’s nomination.10 After the nomination came under fire, the Alaska Cabaret, Hotel, Restaurant & Retailers Association and the Maine Restaurant Association (MRA) sent open letters to Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, urging they back Puzder’s nomina- tion. After a barrage of criticism, Michelle Corry, Chair of the MRA’s board of directors publicly posted that the MRA’s letter in support of Puzder was sent without the knowledge or consent of the board or the MRA’s members, and Senator Murkowski noted that her office was flooded by calls opposing the Puzder nomination.11,12 Puzder was a visible opponent of minimum-wage increases, overtime regulations, and the af- fordable care act, and a vocal proponent of automation. According to Puzder, robots are “always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case.”13 Under Puzder’s tenure, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s workers experienced some of the highest rates in the industry of sexual harassment, wage theft, and preparing and serving food while sick.14 Puzder was also accused of allowing Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s to regularly pay workers below the minimum wage and violate child labor laws.15 In January of 2017 Puzder was named to National Restaurant News’ Power List of the most powerful people shaping the future of foodservice.16 Due to the publicity these and other failings received, Puzder was forced to withdraw his nomination, and was ultimately removed as CEO of CKE Restaurants. The company marked the occasion by running ads trum- peting that it was time to grow up and sell “food not boobs”.17 Here and in other instances, the Trump administration demonstrated a practice of publicly advocating support for America’s workforce while in practice seeking to undermine labor and health protections — a calling card of the Other NRA. In addition, the NRA represents large cor- porate interests and not the interests of small restaurants around the country, a truth that was demonstrated when restaurants across Maine rebelled at a letter from the Maine Restaurant Association supporting Puzder’s nomination.18 The National Restaurant Association jumped at the opportunity to ensure its policy agenda was adopted and aggressively pushed by the Trump administration, even when it required circumventing the desires of its members, and leading to one of the first public defeats for the Trump Administration. REPEAL AND REPLACE Trump has adopted one of the favored tactics of the NRA — claiming that its policies favor and benefit workers, while undermining workers at every turn. Donald Trump railed against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) yet praised universal health care systems on the campaign trail, and claimed that his health care plan would expand coverage and lower costs for individuals.19 The actual plan he championed and cajoled Congress to pass, the American Health Care Act (AHCA), will put healthcare out of reach for millions of people with pre-existing conditions.20 Over 24 million people will lose health insurance coverage according to a preliminary assess- ment by the Congressional Budget Office
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