Thread: Michelle Malkin: How's That Obamacare Waiver Workin' Out for Ya? Read it and Weep

They have created a lot of their negative media.

http://www.alipac.us/f19/al-olive-ga...33/index2.html

Story in the above link.


Michelle Obama announces partnership with Darden Restaurants

he Darden restaurant chain has pledged to cut their calorie and sodium content by 20 percent and will offer heartier food options on their children's menu with a new partnership with Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Campaign.

First Lady Michelle Obama and chef Julie Elkinton greet Alaysia (L), 5, and Aniyha Smothers, 9, as they eat at an event where Obama announced a new partnership between Darden Restaurants and her Lets Move! Campaign at an Olive Gardenrestaurant in Hayattsville, Maryland on September 15, 2011. The Restaurant chain has pledged to cut their calorie and sodium content by 20% and will offer heartier food options on their children's menu. UPI/Kevin Dietsch


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Read more: Michelle Obama announces partnership with Darden Restaurants - UPI.com

Labor Activist Group Targets Orlando-Based Darden Restaurants

By Will Patrick
Capital VanguardDarden Restaurants is an Orlando-based company that owns some of the most recognizable names in American dining. Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and LongHorn Steakhouse are just a few. Perhaps a victim of its own success, Darden has recently found itself the target of an out-of-state activist group that has picked Central Florida as its latest battleground.Restaurant Opportunity Centers United, ROC, is a controversial labor organization that according to theNew York Post, tries to “shake down high-profile city restaurants.”The group is also behind much of the funding and community organizing that nearly led to a paid sick leave initiative appearing on Orange County’s November ballot. And while the idea of paid sick leave for restaurant workers is viewed favorably among most voters, the tactics and goals of ROC remain in question.Last month, for example, ROC members along with several Darden restaurant employees disrupted a company shareholders meeting in Orlando. Activists inside the meeting confronted Darden’s CEO Clarence Otis and demanded higher wages and paid sick leave. Others protested outside.The incident appeared to be a coordinated Occupy Wall Street-style event complete with cameras capturing the confrontation and an ROC report, called Darden’s Decision, simultaneously released to an interested media.ROC received some $275,000 of federal money in 2009 and has subsequently been investigated for employing intimidation tactics as a routine matter of business. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-California) recently wrote a formal congressional letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, a presidential appointee, stating:“ROC targets restaurants that it believes have subpar safety or workplace conditions and demands that the restaurants pay a monetary reward.“When a restaurant resists the demands, ROC organizes large protests outside the restaurant, harasses patrons who want to enter and eat…and even places giant inflatable cockroaches outside the restaurants.”Reading more like a list of grievances than a study, Darden’s Decision contains strongly phrased allegations. “Darden employees and consumers have charged the company with wage theft, discrimination, paying unsustainable wages as little as $2.13, and denying employees the ability to earn paid sick days.” Unmentioned was the $65 million in community grants Darden has donated since 1995.ROC has already sued one of Darden’s restaurants in the past claiming discrimination and low wages; Darden claims the lawsuit is without merit. Waiters are often paid less than minimum wage in the restaurant industry because they receive tips for their services. Restaurant employees also have traditionally traded shifts with fellow workers when sick.The Orlando Sentinel reported that one ROC organizer, John Cronan of New York City, was at the disrupted shareholder meeting in Orlando. According to the article, Cronan stated that he used to work as a waiter for Capital Grille, a Darden restaurant, and would often serve customers while sick. The implication of Cronan’s comments being that paid sick days were necessary or customers would be in harm’s way. Otis responded by citing strict company policy requiring sick employees to be excused from work.Cronan, however, appears to be much more the activist than a struggling waiter. For his part, the New York City resident writes for a blog called Z-Space: A Community of People Committed to Social Change. Titles of some of his recent blog posts include: Make the Rich Pay, Class Barriers, and Participatory Economics as Alternative [sic].Another group present at Darden’s shareholder meeting was the Nathan Cummings Foundation, whose self-described mission is “to build a socially and economically just society that values nature and protects ecological balance.” The Foundation is not only a Darden shareholder, but a funder of ROC.With lawsuits statistically on the rise since 2008, Darden seems the perfect target. Darden owns and operates more than 2,000 restaurants, employs 80,000 people – 2,000 in Orlando – and has annual sales of $8 billion.ROC was founded in New York City after the September 11^th,2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Its original mission was to help waiters, bartenders, busboys and other restaurant employees who were displaced by the destruction of downtown Manhattan.In the 11 years since, ROC has grown into a national organization and says it’s dedicated to improving wages and working conditions for low-wage restaurant workers. It also bemoans the fact that less than 1 percent of the restaurant industry is unionized.Will Patrick is the Capitol Reporter for the James Madison Institute. Originally from Sarasota, Will worked in New York City for eleven years and now lives in Tallahassee with his young family.Labor Activist Group Targets Orlando-Based Darden Restaurants | The Capitol Vanguard
http://www.floridapoliticalpress.com/2012/10/10/labor-activist-group-targets-orlando-based-darden-restaurants/