Cuomo's Fast Food Minimum Wage Regulations Are As Half-Assed As His APPR Teacher Evaluation System

Whether you're in favor of or opposed to Cuomo's imposing a minimum wage of $15 an hour on the fast food industry, the haphazard way in which it is going to be applied should raise concern.

Jimmy Vielkind wrote about this last night on Capital NY, noting that national chains will have the wage regulations imposed on them while local chains will not:

ALBANY—Mr. Subb won't have to pay its workers $15 an hour, but Subway will. In Buffalo, the local favorite Mighty Taco will be exempt from the higher minimum wage. Not so, though, for Taco Bell patrons.

When the state Department of Labor posted Friday the formal report of the wage board it convened to study an increase for fast food workers, it came complete with an appendix of 137 restaurant chains it believes meet the criteria of its proposed order for a $15 hourly rate.

Cognizant of the impact the higher wages could have on mom-and-pop restaurants—the across-the-board minimum wage in New York will rise to $9 an hour by year's end—the three members of the wage board narrowed their recommendation to national chains, which they defined as having 30 or more locations. That captures the obvious, like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Starbucks.

The resulting list seems to favor smaller, regional chains like Mr. Subb (formerly Mike's Neba), which counts 18 locations in Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Saratoga counties.

It gets worse.

Convenience stores like Stewart's and 7-Eleven are not on the list, but the national fast food restaurants that share space in those convenience stores are.

So you'll have some employees in a 7-Eleven subject to the rule while others won't be.

And then there's just inexplicable stuff like this:

Old Country Buffet is covered, but Golden Corral is not. Upstate, Bruegger's Bagels makes the cut, but Long Island's Bagel Boss does not. (Manhattan Bagels is subject to the wage orders.)

For hot dogs, Ted's Hot Dogs in Buffalo will escape the new mandate, as will Troy-based Hot Dog Charlie's. Nathan's Famous, of Coney Island fame, is subject to the new requirements.

Cuomo's new fast food minimum wage recommendations seem to be as messy and nonsensical as Cuomo's APPR teacher evaluation system that has 50% of an art teacher's rating based upon state test scores in math or evaluates some teachers on test scores of students they don't actually, you know, teach.

The list of businesses subject to the new rules has not been finalized yet, but just looking at the nature of the preliminary list, you can see it's another example of Cuomo's genius at work.

Christine Quinn Shows What Kind Of Mayor She Would Be

She'd be full of crap, of course!

New York mayoral candidate Christine Quinn caught flack from her opponents this week when she appeared at a rally for fast-food workers just a day after accepting a large donation from fast-food mogul Dennis Riese.

Riese’s corporation owns 75 francised restaurants in New York, including outposts of KFC, Pizza Hut, Tim Hortons, and T.G.I. Fridays. On Wednesday, Quinn accepted a donation of $14,850, the maximum allowed amount, from Riese and his wife. But Thursday she showed up at a rally for striking fast-food workers who are seeking increased pay and the ability to unionize.

According to Gothamist, one of Quinn’s opponents, Bill de Blasio, released a statement today pointing out that Riese has faced “multiple law suits for wage theft, employment discrimination, and workplace safety violations.”

Quinn has been an outspoken supporter of the fast-food workers and maintains that the Rieses’ donation is not relevant to the campaign.

"Christine Quinn stands strong with fast-food workers, period,” said spokesman Mike Morey. "Her contribution from the Rieses is as irrelevant as the fact that Bill de Blasio attends an annual St. Patrick’s Day party at the Reises’ restaurant.”

Uh, no - it's not.

De Blasio's attending an annual St. Patrick's Day party at the Rieses' restaurant is nothing like taking thousands in cash donation from Dennis Riese this week, the day before she attends a rally for fast food workers working for Riese.

Anthony Weiner was at the rally and he took money from Riese too - but that was back in 2007.

That's, uh let's see, quite a few sextings ago for Weiner.

Quinn meanwhile took money from Riese a day before she attended the rally for fast food workers who work for Riese.

That she thinks she can get away with this kind of thing by playing it off shows you just how full of crap she is as both a person and a politician.

Fast Food Worker Strike Update

It is good to see this happening:

Fast food workers across the city went on strike Thursday forcing three restaurants to close entirely due to lack of staff.

Roughly 400 workers at 70 McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and Domino's restaurants rallied for better wages and benefits.

"I'm here because enough is enough," said Alterique Hall, 24, from Harlem, a supervisor at McDonald's on 51st and Broadway.

The workers want $15 an hour pay and union memberships.

"The corporations (must be) aware of what's really going on," said McDonald's cashier Linda Archer, 60 of the Bronx, who joined 150 protesters at a Wendy's on W. 34th St. "They're making huge profits. Give us a little respect."

Mayoral hopefuls Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and City Controller John Liu joined the campaign for higher wages Thursday and some customers said they’d swear off fast food.

"The cost of living is going up but salaries are not," said carpenter Bernice Tobias. "I support them."

Workers at KFC, McDonald's, Burger King and Domino's banding together, taking part in job actions and working for better job protections and wages.

And Liu and de Blasio joined them

It would be good for those of you who support workers' rights and believe every worker is entitled to a liveable wage to notice which mayoral candidates were not at the protest.

Making The World Safe For American-Style Fast Food

The Daily News reports Baghdad is experiencing a growth in homegrown, American-style fast food restaurants:

BAGHDAD — Baghdad's embattled residents can finally get their milkshakes, chili-cheese dogs and buckets of crispy fried chicken. Original recipe or extra spicy, of course.

A wave of new American-style restaurants is spreading across the Iraqi capital, enticing customers hungry for alternatives to traditional offerings like lamb kebabs and fire-roasted carp.

The fad is a sign that Iraqis, saddled with violence for years and still experiencing almost daily bombings and shootings, are prepared to move on and embrace ordinary pleasures - like stuffing their faces with pizza.

Iraqi entrepreneurs and investors from nearby countries, not big multinational chains, are driving the food craze. They see Iraq as an untapped market of increasingly adventurous eaters where competition is low and the potential returns are high.

"We're fed up with traditional food," said government employee Osama al-Ani as he munched on pizza at one of the packed new restaurants last week. "We want to try something different."

Among the latest additions is a sit-down restaurant called Chili House. Its glossy menu touts Caesar salads and hot wing appetizers along with all-American entrees like three-way chili, Philly cheesesteaks and a nearly half-pound "Big Mouth Chizzila" burger.

...

"Everybody likes to eat and dress up. This is something that brings people together," he explained. "People tell us: `We feel like we're out of Baghdad. And that makes us feel satisfied.'"

...

Dining out in Iraq is not without risk. Ice cream parlors, restaurants and cafes were among the targets of a brutal string of attacks that tore through Iraq on Aug. 16, leaving more than 90 people dead.

Iraqis say the chance to relax in clean surroundings over a meal out is worth the gamble. For them, the restaurants are a symbol of progress.

"This gives you a feeling the country's on the right track," said Wameed Fawzi, a chemical engineer enjoying Lee's fried chicken strips with his wife Samara.

Ah yes - you know your country's on the right track when you too can take the family out to a restaurant and eat some food that will eventually give you heart disease, diabetes and a stroke.

It will be total progress when Iraqis can go out to these places without worrying about car bombs killing them while they eat their french fries.

Just another example of how the United States is adding value the world over - first we destabilize the country so that mass slaughter continues to be a monthly occurrence then we provide the environment for the local entrepreneurs to run American-style fast food joints while we steal all the oil and natural resources.

What a country!