Thread by @NBCNews

Workers at some fast-food chains owned by public firms are getting better wages now. It’s a different story for businesses owned by private-equity firms.

#NBCNewsThreads (1/11) nbcnews.com/business/perso…

Alma Jordan, a nursing assistant at the Marcella Center nursing home in New Jersey, said the residents she cared for over 16 years were like family.

But after Complete Care Management, the state’s largest for-profit nursing home operator, took over, it slashed benefits. (2/11)

“I put all my effort into this company, and someone else took over and they don’t want to give us what we deserve,” Jordan said. “For them, it’s business. It’s not about the staff and the residents. It’s only about making profits.”

In late September, Jordan quit her job. (3/11)

Complete Care owns 61 facilities in eight states. It's backed by a private-equity firm called Peace Capital in New Jersey, whose principal owner is Sam Stein.

Jordan is not alone in experiencing reduced circumstances after a company is taken over by a private-equity firm. (4/11)

The new titans of finance, private-equity firms use large pools of debt — typically raised in what's called the leveraged loan market — to acquire companies they hope to resell in a few years at a profit. (5/11)

The heavy debt loads they take on, combined with pressure to flip acquired companies quickly, increases the likelihood that private-equity firms will have to cut costs in the operations that they buy. Often, the first to the chopping block is the company’s workforce. (6/11)

One of the nation’s biggest private-equity employers is Roark Capital of Atlanta. It owns Inspire Brands — parent company to an array of fast-food chains that includes Arby’s, Dunkin’, Baskin-Robbins and Sonic. (7/11)

Inspire Brands has worked to battle the Raise the Wage Act, which has been introduced in Congress every year since 2017 and would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour among workers. (8/11)

Some Inspire Brands workers have taken matters into their own hands. This summer, Matthew Honeycutt, 18, walked off the job at an Arby’s in North Carolina, where he was making $9.50 an hour as a shift manager. He supports an 8-month-old son. (9/11)

That got management’s attention, he said. “The strike was on a Tuesday, and it was about Thursday when he started getting the raises out,” Honeycutt said of his boss, who gave him a 50-cents-an-hour raise. (10/11)

Sean Dunlop, an equity analyst, said increasing pay and benefits among workers is a trend Inspire Brands won't be able to resist.

"Inspire Brands, if they want to compete, are going to be forced to raise wages. They're going to have to, whether they want to or not.” (11/11)