Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at a labor-focused event on Monday, further assailed the influence of McDonald’s in gutting key components of former President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.
She acknowledges how big corporations like McDonald’s continue to fight policies supporting working-class Americans while enjoying tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks during the previous administration.
“While Trump promised to rebuild the economy for all, McDonald’s and other corporate giants reaped the rewards without supporting the people who drive their successful workers,” Harris said. She pointed out that under Trump, the fast-food chain was a regular adversary of efforts to raise the federal minimum wage and fought against legislation designed to create better workplace protections.
The vice president said the corporation feeds into low wages, yet the world’s leading McDonald’s is responsible for ensuring the workers are okay. “You can’t have a thriving economy if the workers who power it struggle to make ends meet,” she added. Harris stated that the administration would continue its pursuit of economic policies that foster more balanced growth like the continued Biden administration push to implement a $15 minimum wage.
While characterizing much of Trump’s economic policy as pro-business, Harris argued that firms like McDonald’s used deregulation in ways that were effectively anti-worker insofar as these stripped employees of a host of benefits and protections. The company was boosting profits during the pandemic while many of its employees experienced stagnant wages and inadequate healthcare benefits.
Harris’s remarks are part of a larger push by the Biden administration to distance its economic policies from those of Trump and to emphasize its commitment to workers and fighting income inequality. McDonald’s issued no comment on Harris’s remarks, but labor groups have been growing more aggressive in demanding wage parity and improved working conditions across its entire chain of franchises.
Harris’s analysis of McDonald’s indicates a rising tide of criticism of the interests of corporations over labor reforms that would create an inclusive economy. Federal minimum wage and rights at work have also become the subject of debate and exposure.
