Dunkin’ Brands CEO Nigel Travis (pictured below) is calling the decision to raise the hourly minimum wage for New York fast food workers from the current $8.75 to $15 statewide in 2021 “absolutely outrageous.” This “sudden increase,” Travis declared in a recent CNN interview, will hurt the people who run Dunkin’ franchises. Travis has enjoyed a bit of a “sudden” pay hike himself. He made $10.2 million last year -- over double his take-home the year before -- thereby upping his personal pay rate (assuming he works 50 hours a week) to $4,000 an hour. Travis says the minimum wage hike will mean “less hiring” at Dunkin’ Donuts, adding that “I don’t want to sound threatening.”
One way to reduce the staggering ratio between CEO pay and the pay of their workers would be through a corporate tax that rose with that ratio: Companies with higher CEO pay relative to their median workers would face a higher tax rate; companies with low ratios would pay a lower rate. The first step would be for companies to disclose that ratio. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act required companies to do so, but the Securities and Exchange Commission has dragged its feet on the requirement because of intense corporate lobbying. Tomorrow, at an open meeting, the SEC votes on a proposal for such disclosure.
No comments:
Post a Comment