What can WE learn from AAPL?
SBUX is a SHORT - slowing the unionization effort will get very expensive for the company.
According to employees with knowledge of the plans, Apple Inc. has agreed to make work schedules at its retail stores more flexible, part of a push to improve conditions in the face of unionization efforts. A Bloomberg story, citing employees, reports that Apple told staff at some stores that change aimed at making work schedules more flexible will take effect in the coming months, with some of the changes due to take effect within the next several weeks and others not until later in the year. The changes to be made include:
- A minimum of 12 hours in between shifts, up from the current minimum of 10 hours
- A maximum of three days per week when employees can work past 8 pm unless they choose to work late shifts
- Employees will not be scheduled to work more than five days in a row, down from the current maximum of six days in a row, although there could be exemptions during new product launches and holidays.
- Full-time employees will be eligible for a dedicated weekend day off every six months.
Apple has made several changes to placate workers and cope with a tight labor market in recent months. In February, the company doubled paid sick days, increased vacation days, and expanded backup care for children. Last month, it upped hourly wages, raising its minimum pay to $22 an hour from $20. I'm not close to the AAPL story, but they will have an easier time slowing the unionization progress than SBUX for several reasons. First, SBUX can't increase its minimum pay to $22/hour and increase labor hours. Second, running an SBUX is more complex than an apple store. Third, the theme of the AAPL moves is to make "work schedules more flexible," something that will be very costly for SBUX as they need to increase labor hours per store across thousands of stores to make life more flexible for employees, which will be very expensive!
NEW LOCO CFO
LOCO announces that Ira Fils has been appointed CFO of El Pollo Loco, effective 6/2722. Fils joins El Pollo Loco from The Habit Burger Grill, a division of YUM! Brands. He joined The Habit Restaurants, LLC in August 2008 as CFO and Secretary, where he helped lead the company's successful IPO in 2014 and actively participated in the sale of Habit to YUM! Brands in 2020.
Exiting Russia is hard.
MCD is a LONG, and QSR is a SHORT - two stories about QSR and MCD Russian business.
The Washington Post - Russia is building a 'fun and tasty' McDonald's replacement; as the fast-food chain moves to complete the sale of its Russian stores, trademark filings hint at a possible new direction.
Reuters Burger King is caught in a complex legal web, thwarting Russia's exit.
Part of the problem for QSR is it's a franchise market versus MCD is a company-owned market. A franchisor "can't physically or legally stop a franchisee from operating if they wish to do so" in the current situation, said Lee Plave, a franchise attorney at Plave Koch PLC in Virginia. "The legal remedies that are available take time, and even when you pursue them, you'd still end up in a Russian courtroom to enforce an order, which is an unlikely prospect at this time."
The outstanding question for QSR is, how, if at all, will a delayed exit from Russia impact the Burger King brand globally?
