News & Articles

McDonald’s is scrambling, and I’m not talking about eggs. Your know your business has what image consultants call “quality perception issues” when you have to launch a PR initiative that publicly addresses such questions as: “Does McDonald’s beef contain worms?”
Thornier yet for the world’s largest burger machine is its boneheaded response to the remarkable, ongoing rebellion by fast food workers, who’re demanding a $15-an-hour wage and the freedom to unionize without corporate retaliation. McDonald’s responded by – guess what? – retaliating. Big Mac managers illegally reduced the hours (and therefore the pay) of hundreds of those who joined the “Fight For 15” campaign, and many managers also spied on workers, interrogated and threatened them, and imposed restrictions on their freedom even to talk about unions or working conditions.
The corporation now faces federal charges on hundreds of labor law violations – as well as facing rising customer anger over its ham-handed tactics. Naturally, McDonald’s responded by apologizing and raising wages.
Ha! Just kidding. Instead, it’s running a new series of TV ads that, astonishingly, tries to tap into people’s emotions about such tragic events as 9/11, as well as linking its logo to people’s positive feelings about veterans, birthdays, and even “love.” McD’s corporate marketing director explains that the ads are all about the Golden Arches shining brightly in every community, being with us through the good and the bad. As she puts it, “Who better to stand up for lovin’ than McDonald’s?”
Huh? She should ask protesting workers about the “love” they’re getting from McDonald’s. Oh, to be fair, the bosses did make one change for workers – new uniforms, supposedly to buff-up the corporation’s public image. That’s not just boneheaded, it’s pathetic!
“They’re not loving it: McDonald’s sales sag,” Austin American Statesman, December 9, 2014.
“McDonald’s walks fine line with latest TV ad,” Austin American Statesman, January 13, 2015.
“McDonalds to bet big on its custom burgers,” Austin American Statesman, December 21, 2014.
“McDonald’s Is Charged With Punishing Workers,” The New York Times, December 20, 2014.
“Worker’s Rights at McDonald’s,” The New York Times, December 22, 2014.

New GOP Congress rushes big favors to Wall Street

If members of the brand-spanking new, Republican-controlled Congress are at all confused about why We the People consider them just another load of bovine excrement, they should look at their bill called “Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens.”
Only one day after being sworn in, the GOP introduced this deceitfully-titled bill as its top-priority, must-pass piece of economic legislation. But forget jobs and small business – those are just gauzy shams to hide the fact that this bill is nothing but a thank-you gift to the party’s sweethearts on Wall Street!
A little background: First, having wrecked our economy with their reckless casino gambles in 2008, the banking giants had to swallow the 2010 Dodd-Frank reform bill that put some modest limits on their destructive gambling habit. Second, the banksters went running to Republicans, wailing that the Dodd-Frank wrist slaps were hurting their profits. Third, they pledged to back sympathetic GOP candidates over those mean ol’ Democrats in the 2014 elections. Fourth, they did. And fifth, with Republicans now in charge, it’s payback time for banksters!
The chief pay clerk is Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, chair of the financial services committee. He even tried to ram his Wall Street giveaway through the House with a rigged process that would’ve prevented any debate. No need to question what’s in it, he averred, for it merely makes “technical corrections” to the Dodd-Frank reforms.
Yeah – “technicalities” like putting us taxpayers back on the hook for bailing out banksters when their speculative gambles fail, allowing them to take more risk with our money, and letting them hide more of their scams from public scrutiny. To learn the truth about the GOP’s corrupt coddling of their thieving financial benefactors, go to www.OurFinancialSecurity.org.
“Kicking Dodd-Frank In the Teeth,” The New York Times, January 11, 2015.

The Texas government’s hair-raising attack on hair braiders

As messed up as it sounds, in the unending struggle for justice, there is such thing as a “positive negative.” This occurs when you win a struggle that you never should’ve had to make.
A prime example is presented by the long saga of Isis Brantley. In 1997, the Dallas police force raided her school, which taught the cultural art of African-style hair braiding. It was a highly regarded school – Brantley had been braiding hair for years, even attracting music stars like Erykah Badu. But, state authorities barked, she was guilty of this horrific breach of the law: Braiding without a barbers license! So, she was arrested and – get this – hauled away in handcuffs.
But Brantley wasn’t barbering, she was braiding, so her case led to a reform intended to make it easier for hair braiders to be licensed for their art. Victory, right? Not so fast. Texas State officials, who loudly profess that they despise regulatory overreach, proceeded to overreach. Braiding artists, they commanded, must convert their shops into fully-equipped barber colleges, requiring 10 or more workstations with hair washing sinks – even though braiding does not involve washing.
In 2013, still refusing to submit to this Big Brother authoritarianism, Brantley sued Gov. Rick “Small Government” Perry’s department of licensing. And now, 17 long years after the Texas State governments ridiculous, anti-hair braiding gendarmes raided Isis Brantley’s shop, locked her in handcuffs, and ran roughshod over her rights, she has found a measure of justice. A court has ruled that the state’s actions are unconstitutional – not to mention arbitrary and abusive, shameful and silly.
Right-wingers claim to hate Big Government intrusion – but where were they when their own government was intruding on Isis Brantley?
“Braiding business laws are tossed,” Austin American Statesman, January 8, 2015.