ROC LOBBYISTS IN SHEEP S CLOTHING. posed. Restaurant Opportunities Center Lobbying Activities

Transcription

1

2 LOBBYISTS IN SHEEP S CLOTHING ROC e posed.com The Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) is a labor union front group registered with the IRS as a 501(c) (3) Public Charity. As a worker center, ROC has explicitly stated on its Forms 990 that it does not engage in lobbying activities. 1 However, the evidence shows that ROC does indeed lobby. In fact, ROC actively lobbies members of Congress, state legislators, city councilmembers, and other public officials. ROC has even taken to social media platforms boasting of its aggressive lobbying in support of specific pieces of legislation. Currently, a complaint is filed with the IRS to investigate the front group s noncompliance with IRS requirements. The 12-point outline below documents how ROC has misled its funders, the general public, the taxpayers, the federal government, and the governments of numerous states and cities. Restaurant Opportunities Center Lobbying Activities 1. ROC holds an annual Counter Lobby Day where ROC staff lobbies federal lawmakers ( ). Each year, ROC flies in staff from around the country and holds a Counter Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. to correspond with the National Restaurant Association s Lobby Day. In 2011, ROC staff met with Congressman George Miller s staff to discuss ROC s political agenda; ROC posted photos of the meeting online. 2 1

3 2. ROC Actively Lobbied for Illinois S.B. 1565, minimum wage legislation. ROC lobbied for specific minimum wage legislation in Illinois. Over the course of many months, ROC organized members and volunteers to visit the state capitol on multiple occasions to lobby elected officials. ROC has organized meetings with Senators Harmon, Claybourne, Cullerton, Schonenberg, Crotty, Silverstein, Jacobs, Garrett, Noland, Landek, Haine, Link, Munoz, Hendon, Lightford, Trotter, Delgado, Jones III, Dunkin, Ford, Flowers, Riley and Martinez. 3,4,5 2

4 3. Co-coordinator Fabricio Rodriguez states he lobbied Congress on behalf of ROC (2013). In a YouTube video where he discusses his recent trip to Washington D.C., Rodriguez ROC s Philadelphia co-coordinator boasts that he and other ROC staff lobbied Congress to pass the WAGES Act ROC co-founder and co-executive director Saru Jayaraman underscores the group s lobbying efforts in her new book. In Behind the Kitchen Door, Jayaraman stated that Over the last several years we ve lobbied for paid sick days at the local, state, and federal levels 7 Jayaraman also wrote that ROC s coordinator in Washington D.C. became a lobbyist and organize[d] a counter-lobby day on behalf of ROC As of June 2011, ROC was in the process of hiring a Research and Policy Organizer to direct ROC s Lobbying Program. Per ROC s job solicitation, the staffer would facilitate a worker-led district policy campaign including: establishing a timeline, strategic mapping, and trainings to educate members on how to advocate; Create a federal advocacy/ lobbying program with restaurant workers; Coordinate visits with members of Congress, in support of ROC s federal policy priorities; Help develop and promote ROC-U s federal policy strategy. 8 3

5 6. E very ROC chapter maintains an active Policy Committee. These policy committees regularly meet, in some cases bi-weekly, to discuss and plan political and lobbying strategies to drive ROC s agenda, with objectives such as adding Congressional co-sponsors to bills and lobbying political institutions. 9,10,11,12,13 4

6 7. ROC Coordinator Nikki Lewis describes a core ROC Objective of the organization: strategically lobby Members of Congress. ROC s lead coordinator in Washington, D.C. states in her LinkedIn profile that a ROC objective is to: strategically lobby members of Congress ROC Member is quoted by the press that ROC is Lobbying in Augusta (2010). Steve Emmons, a ROC Maine member, said the group is focused on lobbying in Augusta, and has successfully lobbied in other states. 15,16 9. ROC is Spearheading Local, State and Federal Mandated Paid Leave Legislation. ROC is spearheading local mandated paid leave legislation in Miami, Florida, as part of a larger national effort. ROC has been, or is involved, in pursuing local paid sick legislation in New York City, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Washington, DC. 17 In addition to local lobbying efforts on this issue, ROC is engaged in state-level lobbying for mandated paid leave legislation, particularly in California and Illinois. 18,19,20 ROC hosted a panel discussion with members of Congress on federal mandated paid leave legislation and 21, 22 actively lobbies members of Congress on the issue. 10. ROC meets with Members of Congress and lobbies the ROC agenda (2011). On February 14, 2011, ROC met with Congressman Hansen Clarke, Congressman Danny Davis, Congressman Cedric Richmond, and Congressman David Rivera s office. 23 Here are ROC quotes from that lobbying day: ROC Michigan staff and a large group of members met with Hansen Clarke s staff in Detroit and a few minutes later the ROC Policy Team met with his office in DC. ROC Chicago members were meeting with Congressman Davis in Chicago; the ROC Policy Team was meeting with his staff in DC. 5

7 ROC NOLA members met with newly elected Democratic Representative Cedric Richmond and got a warm reception along with a near certain commitment that he will sign-on as a co-sponsor to the WAGES Act. Even though he has no legislative staff in DC yet, the ROC Policy Team dropped off a packet of materials that was very well received. 11. ROC garners national attention for its lobbying of the Healthy Families Act (2009). In June 2009, national media covered ROC s lobbying of mandated paid leave legislation ROC held a Lobby Day and Lobby Training session in Philadelphia (2012). ROC s Philadelphia chapter trained members how to lobby, and then immediately met with Philadelphia City Councilmembers to lobby on behalf of mandated paid leave legislation. 25 Implications of Violations Committed by Restaurant Opportunities Center As evidenced above, it is clear that ROC directly participates in lobbying activities, and that the organization is being dishonest when it fails to check the appropriate lobby box on its Form 990. ROC receives taxpayer money from the federal government through grants from the Department of Labor and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By law, however, that money cannot be used for lobbying activities. We respectfully request the IRS investigate if ROC s lobbying activities are a violation of law, and what steps ROC has taken to ensure funds from those federal grants have not helped finance ROC s lobbying work. At a minimum, ROC should correct the record and re-file its Form 990s to make the government and general public aware if ROC is lobbying too much to be classified as a 501(c)(3) Public Charity, and to determine whether ROC is lobbying with taxpayer funds. The principle behind IRS regulations and lobbying activities encourages fairness and balance in our political system. The actions of ROC stated above directly violate the democratic process, and the organization should be held accountable. 6

8 APPENDIX 1 Data available via ROC s IRS Forms 990 via Guidestar.org, for years Facebook. ROC United. 3 Facebook. ROC Chicago. 4 Facebook. ROC Chicago, Launch of Illinois fight to increase minimum wage &ref=mf, 5 Facebook. ROC Chicago. 6 YouTube. Fabricio Rodriguez, Restaurant Opportunities Center Lobbying. 20 February pcg2kq&feature=youtu.be 7 Jayaraman, Saru. Behind the Kitchen Door. Ithaca: ILR, Print. 8 Asian American Action Fund. Job Posting: ROC United/ROC_DC Policy Organize. 13 June com/2011/06/13/job-posting-roc-unitedroc_dc-policy-organizer/ 9 ROC DC Newsletter. Get Your DC Knowledge On!. 28 April f9&id=e72380ad25 10 ROC LA Blog. LA Policy Committee Meeting. 5 May Facebook. ROC Chicago. 18 April Facebook. ROC United Company Overview LinkedIn. Parker Evans, ROC Policy Committee Member LinkedIn. Nikki Lewis, ROC Coordinator Profile Restaurant workers lobby for better pay, benefits. The Forecaster. 23 February Group of restaurant workers sues Front Room. The Portland Press Herald. 26 February National Partnership for Women and Families. State and local action on paid sick days as of July California Progress Report. Educating and empowering workers on paid family leave. 20 May Calitics. Momentum grows for paid sick days in California Northwestern University Medill Reports. For Chicago s restaurant workers, stress levels high, pay low. edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=156087&print=1 21 ROC New York. Serving while sick: Congressional briefing on paid sick days & health National Partnership for Women and Families Blog. Paid sick days progress-and possibilities-sweep the nation. org/ 23 ROC United. Industry reports in Los Angeles, Miami and Washington, DC & National Executive Summary Released of Valentine s Day In These Times. Detroit Restaurant Workers Hungry for Justice. 27 November ROC Invitation via MailChimp. Philly ROC. February 2012.