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Seven national fast-food chains have agreed to end policies that prevent workers from changing branches – limiting their wages and job opportunities – under threat of legal action. State of Washington.
Washington Attorney General announced binding agreements with companies – McDonald, Anne Auntie, Arby, Carl Jr., Jimmy John, Cinnabon and Buffalo Wild Wings – at a press conference Thursday. McDonald's had already announced plans to end the practice.
The so-called non-poach policies prevent franchises from hiring workers away from other franchises of the same chain. This has been convenient for franchise owners, who sometimes worry about the workers they've trained by jumping into nearby branches.
But this also prevented experienced workers from the same franchise from obtaining higher paying jobs, potentially retaining tens of thousands of employees "
Without Access to Better Opportunities In other franchises, workers have fewer ways to get increases in their current positions, Ferguson said.
"Our national antitrust laws are very clear: Companies must compete for workers in the same way as for customers," Ferguson said. "You can not rig the system to avoid competition."
In separate agreements filed Thursday at King County Superior Court in Seattle, companies have denied that their policies are illegal, but said they wanted to avoid costly litigation. McDonald's said he was happy to work with the Ferguson office.
"We believe that everyone at McDonald's has the opportunity to grow and progress throughout their career," said the firm. to end the practice nationwide in response to its legal threats and said that fast food chains that do not follow will be prosecuted. The seven chains have more than 500 locations in Washington.
Non-poaching policies have been increasingly criticized by Democratic Attorneys General and federal legislators. Meaning. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey wrote to the Justice Department last November expressing concern about their potential illegality. On Thursday, they sent a letter to 90 commercial franchises – not just fast-food companies, but also postal services, fitness chains and the like – asking for information on similar practices.
A coalition of 11 Democratic prosecutors, led by Maura Healy of Massachusetts, announced this week a separate investigation into multi-channel no-poach agreements, including Arby, Burger King, Dunkin's Donuts, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Little Caesars, Panera Bread, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Wendy's
New Jersey Attorney General, Gurbir Grewal, said Monday that officials from New Jersey and representatives from other states Monday sent a letter to the operators of the chain to explain to them how they limited their ability to move. "In the fast food industry, non-poaching agreements can limit a worker's future job prospects and restrict his earnings potential, which is not only unfair to the worker. But May Harm The Attorney General of New Jersey, Gurbir Grewal, said in a statement announcing this decision.
Robert Cresanti, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association, said in a letter to lawmakers last month that many channels had already dropped out. But, he said, it remains important to protect the rights of franchisees and workers, and that such policies remain necessary to protect the training methods or investment that a franchise owner has done in training. . In such cases, policies should be applied in a limited way so as not to restrict workers more than necessary, he said.
"IFA is convinced that there can be a solution that protects the value of the brand and, at the same time ensures that the new generation of employees of the unit will continue to grow and to progress, which will benefit unit employees, franchisees and franchisors, "said Cresanti
how such policies stifled the wages of fast-food workers.
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