Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, owner of the Red Lobster and Olive Garden chains along with Disney is working to make it impossible for local cities and counties to pass earned sick time laws.In fact, as reported in the Orlando Sentinel, Disney helped write the bill! “Walt Disney World and Darden Restaurants, owner of the Red Lobster and Olive Garden chains, helped draft the legislation. These corporations aren't looking out for the families that visit or work at their theme park or eat and work in their restaurants - they are protecting their own massive profits.

Remember restaurant workers only make $2.13 per hour (tipped workers) and we can thank  Herman Cain, his work as the CEO of Godfather's Pizza and later as president of the National Restaurant Association, Cain worked diligently in Washington and in the media to see that low-wage restaurant workers could legally be paid as little as possible, as In These Times has noted. In fact, Cain's time in the restaurant business was marked by a long and largely successful battle against minimum-wage increases, and even today, some 15 years later, many of the nation's waiters and waitresses have Cain and the restaurant lobby to thank for a federal minimum wage of $2.13 for tipped workers. By 1995, when Cain was at the helm of Godfather's, the federal minimum wage had already lost much of its purchasing power since the 1960s and 70s, and it hadn't seen a bump in five years. When then-President Bill Clinton and Labor Secretary Robert Reich proposed raising it from $4.25 to $5.15, Cain emerged as one of the leading opponents of the pay boost. In his testimony to a joint economic committee in Washington, Cain, like many of his Republican colleagues today, claimed that the modest raise would destroy thousands of jobs and eliminate entry-level positions that serve as the first rung on a ladder toward prosperity.

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Do you really want someone who is sick cooking or serving your food? There are things you can do,

Sign petition and stop eating at their restaurants. Eat local, spend your money locally and help the local small businessperson. You want seafood? Try some of Stogie's favorites The Crab Shack or Skipper's Smokehouse or Mid Peninsula Seafood unlike  Red Lobster you actually walk out full without spending a bundle. Want Italian? Try Primi Ristorante in St Pete or  Rick's Italian Cafe on Davis Islands. For a complete list of locals visit Tampa Locavore.