Union, Prosecutor Team to Push Papa John’s to Pay More
A union operative generously praised New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman when he announced he was taking a Papa John’s pizza franchisee to court on behalf of workers who claim they were underpaid. The state attorney general, like the unions, called it “wage theft.”
The thing is, the union official knew about the government’s lawsuit before the pizza franchisee did.
“Fast-food workers all across the city and country are organizing for higher pay and union rights,” said Kendall Fells, organizing director for Fast Food Forward, a group dedicated to increasing wages and benefits for fast-food workers. Fells added:
This suit shows why their campaign is so important. And it shows that Attorney General Schneiderman is serious about holding fast-food companies accountable for wage theft.
Fells’ comments came in a press release from Schneiderman’s office announcing the lawsuit.
That means Fells, also on the payroll of the Service Employees International Union, knew New York’s attorney general was going after the Papa John’s franchisee before its owner, Ronald Johnson, did.
Photo: “Papa Johns,” Denise Krebs/Flickr/CC BY 2.0
The suit, filed Oct. 16 in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, seeks more than $2 million for more than 400 delivery workers in restitution, damages and interest from New …read more