Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco
Program Topic: International Labor Day: National Restaurant Association Lobbies Against Raise in Minimum Wage, While Member CEOs Receive Double Subsidies; Small Business Path to Worker Cooperatives
Key Discussion Points:
*We speak with the co-author of a report published last week titled, “Restaurant Industry Pay: Taxpayers Double Burden: How CEOs are Benefiting from Subsidies While Lobbying to Defeat the Minimum Wage.”
*Looking at alternatives to the current economic structure, we examine worker cooperatives and efforts being made in Maine to transition current businesses into cooperatives, including the Island Employee Cooperative in Stonington, which would include four businesses currently run by owners about to retire.
*Updates: Last month, Delmonte became the 13th retailer to sign onto the Coalition of Immokalee Workers Fair Food Program.
Yesterday, the mayor of Seattle announced an increase in the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, to be phased in over the next 7 years.
Guests:
A) Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies, director of Global Economy Project
http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/restaurant_industry_pay
B) Rob Brown, Cooperative Development Institute, Business Ownership Solutions (BOS) program