Pizza Hut, McDonald’s Hit Over Health Benefits Policies

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and a group of health reform activists Friday blasted Pizza Hut and McDonald’s Corp. for paying for their workers’ health insurance in Germany and Japan but providing little or no coverage to hourly workers in the United States

“What do they have against American workers?” Kennedy asked at a news conference, adding that he was inviting the top executives of the two companies to appear before his Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee this week.

Kennedy, appearing with activists from the Health Care Reform Project, was particularly incensed by a letter from Pizza Hut lawyers to Washington television stations threatening legal action if they air project commercials.

“They have raised a bogus issue,” said Pizza Hut spokesman Rob Doughty. He said the issue was the so-called employer mandate to require that firms provide medical coverage for workers, as is the case in Germany and Japan.