Episode 214: Congress and State Legislators Get Serious About Labor Shortage

Congress and state legislators are beginning to get serious about the labor shortage facing employers. Discussions around tax incentives, government-funded hiring bonuses and other remedies are at the forefront of the conversation. We’ll discuss the state of play of this important issue and what operators should expect. And Walmart is the latest company to get a visit from activist shareholders demanding change. This week leading labor activist Rev. William Barber showed up in Bentonville demanding higher wages and worker protections. We’ll take a look at how that played out. And CEO Pay is increasingly being tied to Diversity Goals. This week a number of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, ran stories detailing the increasing pressure executives are under from, surprisingly, institutional investors. We’ll dive right into that. And to top it off, our old friend Mike Whatley, Vice President of State Affairs and Grassroots Programs at the National Restaurant Association, stops by the pod and discusses The NRA’s BluePrint for Rebuilding - a resource to help state and local policy makers as the look for ways to reinvigorate the industry in their states and towns. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.