McDonald's stated that the average starting wage at its corporate-owned stores already exceeds $10 per hour. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images EMPLOYMENT & IMMIGRATION Exclusive: McDonald's halts lobbying against minimum wage hikes

Fast-food giant McDonald's boosted congressional Democrats' efforts to hike the minimum wage Tuesday by telling the National Restaurant Association that it will no longer participate in lobby efforts against minimum-wage hikes at the federal, state or local level.

"We believe increases should be phased in and that all industries should be treated the same way," Genna Gent, McDonald's vice president of government relations, wrote in the letter. "The conversation about wages is an important one; it’s one we wish to advance, not impede."


McDonald's' dramatic shift on the issue comes after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce signaled it would be willing to negotiate over raising the hourly minimum, which for a decade has been stuck at $7.25. "We're going to listen," Chamber President Tom Donohue told reporters in January.

“If it’s going to be done, it’s going to need to be paired with relief for small businesses,” Neil Bradley, the chamber’s executive vice president and chief policy officer, told POLITICO in January. Bradley added then that the Chamber wouldn't support a raise all the way to $15 an hour.

McDonald's shift on the hourly wage minimum could help House leaders put down an uprising from several red-state Democrats who during a closed-door meeting Tuesday threatened to oppose their party’s bill to hike it to $15. The dissidents expressed skepticism about whether the bill will pass on the House floor.

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McDonald's decision comes as it remains embroiled in a National Labor Relations Board suit over labor infractions allegedly committed by its franchisees. The Obama administration brought the case against McDonald's in 2014 under the NLRB's "joint employment" doctrine, which under certain circumstances holds a company liable for labor violations committed by its contractors or franchisees. The labor infractions concerned employees allegedly punished by McDonald's franchisees for participating in Fight for $15 protests to raise the hourly minimum wage.

The Trump administration, eager to wash its hands of the case, proposed a settlement with McDonald's, but an administrative Law Judge rejected it for failing to address worker grievances sufficiently.

Unions backing the Fight for $15 movement were jubilant at McDonald's reversal. “By sticking together and taking action on the job, courageous workers in the Fight for $15 and a Union have forced McDonald’s — the second-biggest employer in the world — to drop its relentless opposition to higher pay," SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said in a written statement.

But Henry said the union isn't done applying pressure to the company. "Now McDonald’s needs to use its profits and power to give thousands of cooks and cashiers across the country a real shot at the middle class by raising pay to $15 an hour and respecting its workers’ right to a union," she said.

In the letter, McDonald's stated that the average starting wage at its corporate-owned stores already exceeds $10 per hour, "and while McDonald’s Corporation does not control the wages franchisees pay in their own restaurants, we believe the average starting wage offered by those independent business owners is likely similar."

In a statement, Mollie O’Dell, vice president of communications at the National Restaurant Association, said “McDonald’s is a valued member of the National Restaurant Association, and we look forward to continuing our partnership."

But McDonald's' decision to quit the NRA's campaign against raising the minimum wage represents a serious blow to the trade group, which reportedly has lobbied against wage increases in more than 30 states.

"Ultimately, progress must come from all corners of our society," Gent wrote, "and McDonald’s Corporation is committed to playing a meaningful role in the spaces we occupy."