On 10/13/2012 22:40, Matt Munson -> All wrote:   
    MM>     Hello everybody!   
      
      
    MM> Its an article from Daily Kos, but it is relevant. I just feel like it   
    MM> might be more ethical just to cook at home and leave entrepenuers who   
    MM> find the loopholes unworthy.   
      
      
    MM> Reposted from Daily Kos Labor by Laura Clawson   
      
    MM> Papa John's has company in the Obamacare fear-mongering game. Darden   
    MM> Restaurants, the parent company of Olive Garden, Red Lobster and others,   
    MM> is joining the pizza chain in threatening dire consequences stemming   
    MM> from the requirement that large companies offer affordable health   
    MM> insurance to employees working 30 or more hours a week. But where Papa   
    MM> John's has threatened to pass the 11 to 14 cent per pizza added cost it   
    MM> claims will come from insuring or refusing to insure their workers along   
    MM> to customers, Darden is sticking it straight to its workers by planning   
    MM> to make sure hourly workers just don't get the 30 hours a week that   
    MM> would tip them over into qualifying for insurance.   
    MM> Here's the thing: Obamacare or no, this is completely typical behavior   
    MM> from Darden. The chain already keeps 75 percent of its hourly workers   
    MM> below 30 hours of work a week, and:   
      
    MM> Darden has been aggressively keeping labor costs down. It has cut   
    MM> bartenders' pay and required servers to share tips with them. It also   
    MM> has eliminated busboy positions at Red Lobster and reduced the number of   
    MM> servers working each shift at that chain.   
    MM> Labor costs as a percentage of sales have dropped steadily from 33.1   
    MM> percent in fiscal 2010 to 30.8 percent in the most recent quarter.   
      
    MM> What we have here is not some Obamacare cataclysm of good employers   
    MM> being forced to cut their employees' hours or go out of business.   
    MM> Rather, it's a food service sweatshop finding one more way to screw its   
    MM> workers. Darden is one of the 20 largest low-wage employers in the   
    MM> country; meanwhile, it was profitable in the last fiscal year and over   
    MM> the last three fiscal years, and has higher revenues, profits, operating   
    MM> margins and cash holdings than prior to the recession. In recent years,   
    MM> Darden has paid nearly $14 million in fines and settlements for wage   
   theft.   
    MM> It's a sad fact that almost any time you're eating in a restaurant,   
    MM> you're in a low-wage, low-benefits workplace. Usually, employers who've   
    MM> taken the high road are the only ones that stand out in the restaurant   
    MM> industry. But Darden has repeatedly distinguished itself by being one of   
    MM> the worst employers in an industry of bad employers. That it would use   
    MM> Obamacare as an excuse to cut the hours of the few remaining full-time   
    MM> hourly workers in an overwhelmingly part-time workforce is hardly a   
    MM> surprise.   
      
   BO has never cared about people, only power. Companies  are only playing by   
   then rules set up under BO. If BO's plan forces them to cut hours to keep from   
   being extorted by the Government, so be it.   
      
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