There are a lot of reasons to have feelings about Subwayâits food, its working conditionsâand now comes a new and different one:
The founder and CEO of Subway says a minimum wage increase wouldnât be such a bad thing for his stores and workers and believes it should be changed so that wages rise automatically with inflation.
âIâm not concerned,â CEO Fred DeLuca said on Wednesday when CNBC asked him about minimum wage hikes. âOver the years, Iâve seen so many of these wage increases. I think itâs normal. It wonât have a negative impact hopefully, and thatâs what I tell my workers.â
DeLucaâs support is noteworthy in part because of the size of his business. Subway has the most locations of any fast food chain. While a majority of small business owners support a $10.10 wage hike, major corporations of that scale typically oppose raising wages.
Sure, he's not saying this about Seattle's $15 minimum wage proposal. He's talking about President Obama's nationwide $10.10 minimum wage proposal. Still, the Subway CEO's thinking matches the local thinking: "Minimum-wage workers deserve to make more," he told CNBC.