Politics has been known to make strange bedfellows, but few pairings are as odd as the alliance that’s formed to hammer down credit-card processing fees, as this week’s Working Lunch political affairs podcast attests.
As the episode reports, restaurant companies are lobbying shoulder to shoulder with labor unions in a new alliance dedicated to bringing down swipe fees. The initial target of the Lower Credit Card Fees Coalition is the passage of a federal bill that factors sales taxes out of the fees’ computation. The charges are typically a percentage of the total amount customers pay via credit card, with the taxes currently included.
The inclusion of organized labor will help in both that push and the lobbying that’s underway at the state level to bring the charges down to what restaurants pay outside of the U.S., noted Working Lunch co-host Joe Kefauver.
Why are unions pushing for a rollback in swipe fees? Hit the Play button to find out. You’ll also get an update on all the legislative and regulatory issues that the industry is facing on a national and state level.
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