John Yarmuth: Paying the Minimum?
With Election Day around corner, the gloves are coming off in television ads across the country. In Indiana’s third congressional district, Republican Rep. Anne Northrup is accusing Democratic challenger John Yarmuth of paying minimum wage at his family’s restaurant chain, Sonny’s Barbeque.
Yarmuth told Louisville’s Wave3 TV that he belives the minium wage – $5.15 an hour – is “an immoral wage,” but he seems to be absolving himself of responsibility for the workers’ pay based on the fact that Sonny’s is a franchise.
“The company I have an interest in gets royalties based on sales. It has nothing to do with salary; nothing to do with payroll,” Yarmuth reportedly said. He added that no franchise owner in America dicates wages.
Northrup was unconvinced: “He could at least bring up to the partnership that they include that in the franchising agreement. He has not.”
Yarmuth and Northrup are currently in a dead-heat.
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