Restaurantnewresource.com - Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) today provided an update on its full-time staffing plans for 2014 following thorough testing of potential changes in the composition of its workforce in connection with healthcare reform. The company has determined that:

 None of Darden's current full-time employees, hourly or salaried, will have their full-time status changed as a result of healthcare reform.

1. Each of Darden's new and existing restaurants will have full-time hourly employees because that is what it takes to fully deliver the experiences guests expect.
2. In 2014, all of Darden's full-time employees, including hourly, salaried and executive employees, will have access to the same insurance plan coverage.

Darden's current full-time population includes approximately 45,000 employees. Continue

Shhh. Keep it down. We may have missed a big one, a potential conflagration which can always be rekindled. That’s right, folks, you read about the Fast Food workers who demonstrated in New York City a few weeks ago, seeking higher wages and the right to organize. It was a one day demonstration, supported by a coalition of a number of community action and labor organizations. The word of caution here is to remember how the Occupy Wall Street movement began. Continue